Dino Thunder: A Twist in Time
by Writingaddict169
Summary: Two new gems, a pink one and a gold one, have been found. What are the powers hidden within them, and who are they to bond to? A Dino Thunder retelling *Title is in the works*
1. The Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own anything having to do with the Power Rangers (who now belong to Saban again!). I use them for my imgaination and reminders of the years of my childhood that I wish I had back. Power Rangers forever!

P.S. The general plot was not my idea, either. This is a request from BellaVision.

Prologue

He breathed heavily as he hid in the dark shadows of a wall. He couldn't stay in one place for very long otherwise they were sure to catch him. Taking off seconds after he had stopped, he zoomed down a dark, long hallway in the fortress. He made a sharp left and ran down the stairs just before a dark creature and its minions appeared.

In a raspy deep voice, it ordered, "Find him. Whatever it takess." The minions ran off in search of their prey.

He rounded another corner as soon as the lead minion appeared. Spotting him, the minion led the others after the human they were hunting. They chased him down the hallway before something exploded in front of him. When the fire disappeared, he forged ahead, hoping to lose some of the creatures in the smoke. He looked back and saw some pieces of the rock ceiling falling, and yet they were still pursuing him with no signs of giving up. A bright light appeared in front of him, telling him that he was at the end of the tunnel. On the other side was nothing but the bright sun and open jungle. Just as he reached the end, another, larger explosion occurred, throwing him from the mouth of the cave and his body against a large palm tree. His spine screamed in pain as it hit the rock-hard trunk and he fell to the ground. Dust clouded around him making it hard for him to breathe. He had been in worse situations before, and he was sure that he would survive this one.

Tommy Oliver stood up, his body covered in dirt and dust and quickly looked around. Not seeing anyone, or thing for that matter, he took off running, hoping that he would be able to get away as far as possible before those, those, _freaks_, showed up again.

He ran through the dense jungle as fast as his legs could carry him. He could feel the island shaking as various explosions went off all around it. It was self-destructing and he had to get off of it and off of it fast.

Out of nowhere, two dark creatures jumped him and knocked him to the ground, forcing him to loose his breath. He felt something sharp and hard stab him on the the left side of his stomach and clutched it in pain as he stood back up. Looking around, he saw that he was surrounded. He quickly got into a fighting stance and waited for someone to charge him. Soon enough, the leader of the group came running at him with everything it had. Tommy quickly kicked it in its chest and sent it flying a couple of feet back. The rest charged him hoping to overtake him. Too bad the poor creatures didn't have any clue about Tommy's past as a legendary Power Ranger.

He was easily winning as he usually did. What did you expect? Minions weren't hard to fight when he was part of the first Power Ranger team seven years ago and they weren't hard to fight against now.

Somehow one of the things sneaked up on him and threw him backwards into the grip of two others. The same one that had thrown him back came up and kicked him hard in the stomach, sending Tommy flying back only to hit another large palm tree. He fell to the ground like a stone and tried to stand up. The pain in his side was too much to bare. It felt like a knife had been plunged into his side and was twisting around to make the hole even bigger and the pain more unbearable. Several of the monsters soared towards him with the intention of landing on top of him. Acting on instinct, he rolled out of the way, narrowly escaping the creatures. He leaped to his feet when he had a second where he wasn't being attacked and continued to fight. It reminded him of the days when he was younger and he was fighting monsters alongside his best friends. Granted, he wasn't as nimble as he used to be, nor was he as fast, but somehow he battled against his own pain and continued to fight.

A mine from behind him went off and threw himself and the minions forward onto the ground. Tommy recovered quickly knowing that it would only be a matter of seconds before the creatures went back after him and a couple of minutes before the island would blow up.

He ran towards the edge of the island and stopped at the edge. The cliff was sheer and Tommy could see the waves crashing over the sharp rocks below. He took a glance behind him and saw the creatures closing in on him.

The ground started shaking and he could tell that there was going to be another explosion; a big one at that. Sure enough, flames erupted behind the minions, sending them flying to the ground. Taking a leap of faith, he jumped into the bright blue water below just as the flames reached the spot Tommy had been standing only a few moments before. All along the coast, multiple fires erupted and Tommy could feel the heat. The water came rushing towards him and Tommy hoped that the fall wouldn't kill him. He went into a perfect diving form and braced for impact. He landed gracefully in the water and swam back up to the top for some air.

Tommy watched as the island destroyed itself. It looked like an atomic bomb had been dropped and was now exploding. The fire formed a mushroom cloud and Tommy had to shield his eyes from the light so he wouldn't go blind.

He uncovered his eyes after a minute and raised his arm up to his mouth. Pressing a button, he said, "H, I'm ready to be picked up now."


	2. Three Years Later

Disclaimer: I'm done writing disclaimers at the beginning of every chapter I post. I'm just going to say it on my profile. So, if anyone of you guys, for whatever reason, believe that I claim these characters as my own, then go check out my profile which will clearly tell you that I do not.

Chapter 1: Three Years Later

Tommy Oliver stood in front of Reefside High School, his new place of employment. It had been years since he had last been in a high school, and, surprisingly, he was starting to miss it. Taking a deep breath, he walked through the glass doors and into the main office. A middle-aged woman secretary sat in a leather chair behind a large desk and was busily typing something on her computer, oblivious to the fact that someone had just walked in.

Coughing quietly, he said, "Excuse me."  
>The lady looked up and glared. "Can I help you?" she asked in an irritated voice.<p>

Taken aback by the tone of her voice, he took a step back in case she decided to throw a stapler at his face. "Um, yes. My name is Dr. Thomas Oliver. I'm the new science teacher. I was wondering if you could tell me how to get to my classroom."

"Do you know your room number?"

"Uh, no. I wasn't given anything. That was another thing I was going to ask you for."

"What?"

He raised an eyebrow in confusion and silently wondered if she was being unpleasant because he had interrupted her or she truly didn't have a clue. "If you had any information for me, like my class schedule or something."

"Oh. Hang on just a moment." She slowly got out of her chair and made her way to a file cabinet across the room. Taking out a ring of keys, she looked for the right one before sticking it into the lock. After she opened the drawer, she searched through a numerous amount of manilla folders before pulling one out of the middle. Closing the drawer, she faced Tommy and handed him the contents of the folder. There wasn't much in it, but then again, twenty pages of paperwork was nothing to a college grad student.

"In that stack of papers is your class schedule and a map of the school, not that it'll be that hard to find your way around. Your room number is printed on the map, and a time sheet has been included." The lady sat back down at her desk and started typing once more.

"What about the rest of the papers? What are they for?" He was flipping through the stack trying to figure out how long this was going to take him. Probably long enough for him to have to skip his lunch period, if he even had one.

"Those? Those are for you to fill out by the end of the day. Turn them in to me when you're done."

"Okay, thanks." Tommy looked up from the papers to smile at her, but she was already absorbed in her computer screen.

He left the main office and took out the map. After figuring out where he had to go, he placed the map at the top in case he had to look at it again and went on his way to his classroom. The warning bell had rung, alerting students and staff alike that first period would begin in five minutes. The hallways were quickly becoming crowded with teenagers and teachers who were running late, much like Tommy himself.

As he got closer to his classroom, the hallways were starting to clear out as the start of first hour was nearing.

Somehow over the buzzing of the teens still getting to class, he heard a commanding "Dr. Oliver." Looking back, he saw a woman a couple of inches shorter than himself with short jet black hair and glasses. She was dressed in a matching business jacket and skirt with a short scarf wrapped around her neck. "I'm Principal Randall."

"It's nice to meet you," Tommy said in a friendly voice. He stuck out his hand hoping to shake her hand, but she stared at it disgustingly instead. Awkwardly pulling his hand away, he said, "I hear it's your first day here, too."  
>"Yes. I seem to have a little problem, however. Perhaps you can help me out?" she asked looking at him.<p>

"Sure," Tommy said. "What is it?"

"I can't seem to wrap my head around why a doctor of paleontology would come all the way to this tiny town to teach science to little brats, I mean, teenagers."

Not wanting to tell her the real reason why he was here, Tommy said the first thing that popped into his mind. "Just wanted some peace and quiet, really." _Peace and quiet? With teenagers? Come on, Oliver, nobody is going to believe that!_ He mentally slapped himself in the forehead and hoped Randall would believe him.

"Interesting," she said disdainfully. "I don't know about you, but I would never put teenagers and peace and quiet in the same sentence. They just don't go well together, don't you agree?" She was trying to get him to trip up, he could tell, but there was no way he was going to let her best him.

"Well, I'm sure I would agree with you, but once you've been out in the desert underneath the hot sun for eight hours with whinny interns and college students on their first dig, I'm sure that you would change your mind. Trust me when I say teenagers are better than those guys." He smiled once he made his argument, but it quickly faded with she looked at him quizzically. "Never mind. Listen, maybe you and I should get together sometime, coffee, dinner, whatever, and we can talk about what you want me to do and expect me to do this year and how you want it to go." He was right outside of his classroom and he wanted to get in it and away from Randall as fast as possible. He was starting to get some weird feelings about her, and the sooner he could figure it out, the better.

"There's no need to meet up for anything, Dr. Oliver. However, I do like your attempt on asking me on a date, but you'll have to do better than that."

"I wasn't asking you—"

"I expect you to make it hard for them," she said as she ignored Tommy's objection, "make them hate you as much as possible. We'll talk later." She walked away with confidence as she left Tommy standing alone in a crowded hallway with the weird feelings gone.

Tommy walked into his classroom and dodged a paper ball that was thrown his way. The screams of teenagers was almost as deafening as the music they listened to. Flying paper balls were soaring through the air like a classroom version of an intense snowball fight.

He looked around and saw a girl dressed in black and gray with yellow accents sitting quietly at her seat furiously writing something down. It was almost like she couldn't hear anything that was going on around her. Another student across the aisle from her was dressed in all blue and intently staring at something in the microscope in front of him. He, too, was ignoring the yelling and paper flying objects and was focusing on his work. Tommy smiled and mentally noted that they seemed to be the good students of the first hour science class.

"Alright guys, sit down. Class has begun," Tommy said as he made his way over to the front of the room. The throwing stopped and students quickly and quietly went to their seats. "Welcome to first period science. I'm Dr. Oliver. I know I may have lost some of you guys already seeing how early first hour is, but are there any questions?" He looked around and saw a perky looking girl with long blonde hair tied back in a ponytail raising her hand. "Yes, Miss..."

"Cornell. Cassidy Cornell. I'm the anchor and lead reporter for the school's TV station, as you may know." The class groaned, and Tommy could tell that she was the student no one wanted to hear her voice. "I'm sure all of us are wondering, well, you don't really_ look _old enough to be a teacher." The class groaned once more as she asked her first question among the thousands she had planned, but Cassidy ignored them. Whipping her head around, she snapped, "Devin, are you getting this?" A tall lanky boy that was sitting next to her quickly stood up with a small video camera in hand.

"Cassidy, I assure you, I'm old enough to be a teacher. So, let's put the camera away and get started."

"You missed it!" she hissed at Devin as the duo went back to their seats. With a sullen look on his face, he sat down and silently put the camera away. It wasn't his fault that Cassidy hadn't told him that she was going to interview the new science teacher. How was he supposed to know? Weren't the camera guy and the reporter suppose to work together?

"Now that that's done and over with, let's talk about you guys. What do you guys expect of yourselves in this class? What do you want to get in this class? What do you want to learn? Do you want to understand the material or just guess on every question you get?" Tommy looked around the classroom and saw every student looking away. Some pretended to be busy writing down notes, and others avoided eye contact. He smiled in his head as he remembered how he would do the same things when he was in high school. He was always afraid of saying or doing something wrong and being called out for it. "Come on, you guys. I did the same thing you guys are doing now when I was in high school. In the ten years that it's been, you couldn't come up with something better?" He smiled as Tommy saw the surprised looks on the kids' faces. Despite Principal Randall's "expectations", he planned on having the students like him. "Anyways, just remember, if you don't understand something, ask. That's what science is all about: asking questions." Noticing an empty chair near the front, he asked, "Is someone missing?"

Kicking a soccer ball up and dribbling it with his feet in the air, Conner McKnight smirked as he saw Nick, the sophomore goalie, cowering in fear in the net. Conner had been able to persuade him to skip first period with him so he could practice his shots on goal.

Nick was dressed in various forms of padding, certain that it would protect him from the infamous McKnight Masher. The special shot got its name after a goalie had tried to stop one of Conner's shots. His face actually got smashed in when he tried stopping the ball and got a free ride to the hospital in an ambulance. Ever since that day, goalies have been afraid of Conner when he had an open shot.

Nick starting shaking as the small red soccer ball was brought back down from Conner's shoulders as he looked at Nick with a serious face. Conner was serious when it came to soccer; it was his life. He stared at the goal for a second longer before booting the ball upwards and watching it soar up like a bird and fall back down like stone. When it was halfway down, Conner leaped into the air and twisted around before perfectly aligning his foot with the ball and kicking it into the net. Nick ducked as soon as he saw the ball leave Conner's foot and crouched, covering his already protected head.

When Conner landed safely back on the ground, he looked at the net and let out of a sigh of disappointment. "Nick, you're supposed to try and stop it."  
>"Yeah, that's easy for you to say," he argued. "You're not the one whose life is flashing before your eyes everytime Conner McKnight takes a shot!" Nick took a quick look around and asked, "Are you sure we're not going to get in trouble for this? It's the first day. Besides, I hear the new principal is crazy. She worked at a prison or something."<br>"Dude, you don't believe that, do you? Look, don't worry about Principal Randall. She's a woman! Besides, if anyone asks, just say Conner McKnight gave you permission. It works everytime."  
>"Really? Well, it's a good thing I'm here because it certainly won't be happening this year, Mr. McKnight." Conner turned around and saw a short lady standing in front of him.<p>

"You must be Principal Randall," Conner said, instantly turning on the charm. "It's so nice to finally meet you. I've heard so many good things about you."

"Nice try, McKnight, but they are just rumors. Go." He started to protest but gave up when she gave him a menacing look. Principal Randall set her sight on Nick and sneered, "What are you looking at?" Kicking the soccer ball that was at her feet, it flew into Nick's stomach and sent him flying up in the air only to be stopped by the net and thrown back down to the ground. The air was knocked out of him, and it was hard to breathe. "Get back to class!" she screamed and led Conner back to the school.

It was Kira's free hour when she got out her guitar. "Any requests?" she asked the group of teens in the courtyard. Someone on the lawn shouted, "Freak You Out!" and Kira saw several teens nod their head in agreement. It was Kira's most popular song and kids were always asking her to play it.

Putting her fingers on the right frets, she started strumming the opening of her song. People were swaying back and forth to the gentleness of the acoustic guitar and some were quietly singing along underneath their breath. When she got to the chorus, she was so lost in the music that she didn't hear someone walking up behind her.

"Ms. Ford, do you have written permission to perform?"

Immediately stopping the song, Kira looked up and saw the new principal towering over her and soccer superstar Conner McKnight right behind Randall. Kira wondered what he had done to get caught by the new principal. _Probably making out with one of the cheerleaders, _she thought.

"No," she said slowly.

"Well, in that case, let's go."

"Are you aware that students who play an instrument have a fifty percent higher chance of getting into college?" she smirked as she saw Randall's glasses come down off of the bridge of her nose.

"Well," the woman said with her own smirk, "you're hardly college material, now aren't you? Come with me." Kira's mouth dropped open but didn't argue as she followed. As they made their way across the courtyard, water erupted from the ground, showering every student within it. Students cried out as they scrambled to get themselves and their things out of the rain.

An African-American teen dressed in blue walked by holding an umbrella. Quickly making the connection in her head, Principal Randall yelled out, "ETHAN JAMES!"

"Yes ma'am?" he asked innocently. Giving him the same look she had given Conner earlier that day, she waved her finger in the universal "come here" motion. Sighing, Ethan reluctantly came towards the group of three consisting of the soccer superstar Conner McKnight, the Avril Lavigne wannabe Kira Ford, and the newest addition to the school, the ever so lovely, Principal Randall.

"Sit!" she ordered as her first victims of the school year sat on the bench outside of her office. Three students already in trouble by third hour on the first day of school almost made the year look promising and bright. At the rate she was going, Randall would have six more kids serving detention by the end of the day!

"Principal Randall, I just wanted to say that there is no hard evidence proving that I actually did it. The reason why I have an umbrella on me is because my grandmother's bones were feeling achy this morning, which always means that it's going to rain."

"Save it for Judge Judy." Randall looked at all three students in absolute disgust. "The three of you have detention for a week!"

"But I have soccer practice!" Conner protested.

"And I have band practice!" Kira said.

"And I've got computer club!" Ethan yelled. Ignoring the protests, Principal Randall stalked off into her office. Kira and Conner stared. "What?"  
>Conner raised an eyebrow. "Dude, computer club?"<p>

Tommy was walking up a staircase after the last school bell had rang. He had managed to find the teachers' lounge, meet a couple of other teachers who seemed pretty nice, and got all of his paperwork done. He also didn't die and managed not to make any of his kids hate him. Not bad for the first day.

"Dr. Oliver, how was your first day?" Principal Randall asked. Tommy whipped his head around, wondering where in the world she had come from. He hadn't even heard her approach him, something he always noticed when someone was near him. _I must be losing it,_ he thought.

"The kids are great, no problems," he answered honestly.

"Good. Because you'll be staying a lot longer in detention."

"Mind telling me what I did?" Tommy asked lightly. He had things to do and they certainly didn't involve teenagers. If he didn't find what he needed to soon, they all could be in serious trouble. "But seriously, I have to do something very important and fast. I don't have much time to do it, either."

"And what could be so much more important than babysitting the kids you think are so great?" she asked in a strangely calm voice.

Realizing what he said, Tommy tried to quickly come up with something in his mind. No one could know what he was doing. "Um, I have to find a thing. For my mom. For Christmas. I like to get things done early."

"Well, you're in charge of detention for the week. The original teacher bailed and you were the first person who came to mind to take over until I can find someone else."

"I would love to, Principal Randall, but I actually had plans to go to the museum to find my mom's gift. It's with dinosaurs and stuff. I don't think the kids would like it very much. Very boring." He tried to sound convincing, hoping he would get out of it. If teenagers got caught in something they weren't supposed to, something very bad could happen to them where Tommy couldn't save them. But he couldn't say that to Randall; she would want to know what he was really planning on doing that didn't involve shopping for his mom's Christmas present.

"Perfect! Bring the monsters with you! That sounds like the perfect punishment for what they've done. Boring is just what they need." Tommy and Randall rounded a corner where three teens were standing. Tommy instantly recognized two of the teens, the girl wearing all yellow and the boy wearing all blue, from his first hour class, Kira Ford and Ethan James if he remembered correctly. The other one was wearing a red soccer uniform. "Dr. Oliver, Mr. Conner McKnight, Ms. Kira Ford, and Mr. Ethan James. Kiddies, this is Dr. Oliver. He will be supervising your detention for the week. Today you'll be helping out Dr. Oliver to find a gift for his mom for Christmas!" Principal Randall said in a kindergarten teacher voice. "Enjoy your outing!" and walked away.

Left with three students, Tommy tiredly took off his glasses and asked, "So, does anyone like museums?"

* * *

><p>Hey everyone! Chapter 1 is up as you can see and you will see Chapter 2 up next week. Hopefully this wasn't too long and you all liked it. Please leave comments, questions, concerns, and anything else in the review section. I always answer them in a segment called COMMENTS TIME!<p>

fallingstar22 and oldtvlover-Thank you!

BellaVision-Thank you and I will.

Well, that's it for now. Like I said, leave a review (it can be about anything) and you will see my response in this specific section every chapter. Thank you for sticking around and reading Chapter 1, and I hope I see you all next week!

Until next chapter,  
>Writingaddict169<p> 


	3. No Ordinary Detention

Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers or anything under the same name and franchise. Please enjoy the twisted version of Dino Thunder's story.

Chapter 2: No Ordinary Detention

Pulling up to the museum, Tommy put his black Jeep into park and turned the engine off. The three teens climbed out and walked towards the giant statue of the T-Rex by the entrance doors. When Tommy climbed out, he couldn't help but notice the colors the kids were wearing. It was all too coincidental, but he knew that the Power worked in mysterious ways. Zordon was always behind everything, wherever he was now. Tommy held in a tear, not wanting to cry now. Zordon had been like a father to him, and losing him was one of the hardest things that had ever happened to him.

As he walked up the hill, following the teens, Tommy couldn't shake off the feeling that there was something special about these three. Not only were they wearing three of the colors, but they were also very different from each other, something that Zordon had wanted in the first Power Ranger team. He had wanted them to learn to get along with each other and work together as a stronger team. The only problem was, were these three teenagers the ones, or was Tommy's brain just over-thinking things?

"Hey, Dr. Oliver! The museum's closed," Kira called.

When Tommy approached the doors, he saw a tiny sign that read "Sorry, we're closed!"

"Well, I say we go back home," Conner said as he started walking back to the Jeep.

"Yeah, I don't think so," Tommy disagreed. "How about this: I stay here and find someone to tell me when they are open. In the meantime, you guys can look around, and if you find anything prehistoric, you won't have detention for the rest of the week. Sound fair?"

The teens stood silently as they looked at each other trying to decide what they should do. Finally, Ethan said, "Uh, guys, what are we still doing here? Don't we have some dinosaur bones to find?" He made his way to the forest and the others quickly followed him.

When they were out of hearing range, Tommy took a closer look at a sign that was on the other door. "Under new management?" he asked himself. "Anton Mercer Industries? Oh no." If Anton owned this building and was in town, he had found Tommy and knew what he was after. _Wait a minute, Oliver,_ he thought, _this is impossible! Anton couldn't possibly be...could he?_ "This is bad, this is so bad," he muttered to himself. The situation just got a hundred times worse and if what Tommy thought was true, then he needed to find them. Now.

* * *

><p>"So let me get this straight," Conner said, stopping conversation. "There's a club. For computers." He had done pretty well until Ethan turned the subject back to Computer Club.<p>

"School is not about sports. We don't go to school to play sports, we go to learn. And learning about something that will play a huge factor in the near future and beyond is very important. If you know how to work and build simple computers, you can pretty much do anything with technology. Besides, there are plenty of people who are very interested in computers and most of them are in Computer Club!"

"Let me guess, five?" Conner smirked. "That's the number of guys I injure after every game," he said with a cocky smile directed at Kira. He flexed his muscles ever so smoothly.

"If you're trying to impress me, it's not working," she said drily.

"And no, we do not have five people in Computer Club," Ethan argued. "We have six."

"Wow, that's a very impressive number you have in that club thing of yours," Conner said with mock wonder. "Waay more than I thought. I'm sorry I underestimated you."

"Okay, seriously?" Kira asked. "Do you really need to be an asshole?"  
>"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset the rock-star wannabe. Can I get you anything, princess?" Conner mocked.<p>

"You really are a jerk," Kira said. "I don't blame the boys for complaining about you all the time." Kira stalked off deeper into the forest, forcing the guys to follow her. The trees were getting closer together and it was getting darker even though the sun was shining brightly above. Kira and Ethan both noticed but decided not to say anything.

"The boys? Do you mean the soccer guys? They're saying things behind my back? What are they saying?" Kira shrugged her shoulders and didn't say a word as she continued walking. "Come on! You've got to tell me! You can't just hint something and then not say it! It's, like, against the human code!"

"What human code?" Ethan asked Conner who ignored his question.

"Come on, Kira! Please?"

Spinning around, she faced the annoying jock just to shut him up. "Yes, the soccer team talks about you behind your back, and let me just say, there are some very interesting things they are more than happy to tell the school when asked. They complain about you all the time and right now, I don't blame them. And when are you going to shut up? You're as annoying as a five year old. Grow up or shut up!" Turning back around furiously, Kira continued to walk in the same direction as she previously was, and Conner stood still in shock. No one had ever spoken to him like that and he had to admit, it was kind of a turn on.

The farther they traveled, the louder the silence got. Trying to break the ice, Ethan asked, "Hey, did you guys hear about the guy who fell into a sink hole up in these woods? He didn't even see it coming, just fell right through."

"That's really interesting," Kira said with boredom laced in her voice.

"The weird thing he, he claims that he saw some pretty strange stuff out here, too. Guy can't even explain it so everyone thinks he's crazy!"  
>"Thanks for that lovely information, Ethan, but this isn't Computer Club, bro," Conner said.<p>

"Okay, hotshot, what do you do in your spare time?"

"Me? I mostly go out with girls. You know, the ones that smell really good, with the long hair and the makeup." Conner quickly glanced at Kira hoping the boy in the blue wouldn't notice. He wasn't talking about her, per say, just describing her and the thousand of other girls in the world.

"Oh, so that's how it is?" Ethan asked when he stopped to look at the taller boy.

"Yep, that's how it is." Kira looked over her shoulder at the boys in disgust and continued walking. Conner smirked at Ethan and followed Kira.

Walking behind the duo, Ethan warned, "Look, I'm just telling you guys that weird stuff happens out here, so don't come crying to me for help when you fall into a giant—woah!" As if the ground had dropped right out from under him, Ethan fell for a couple of seconds before landing hard on his butt. He looked around as best he could in the dimly lit tunnel. Ahead of him, he saw two dark figures drop from the sky, one landing on top of the other. Ethan shot up and ran over to make sure they were okay. Kira had landed on top of Conner who had made it a soft landing for her. Their lips were inches away and Kira started to feel something hard press against the inside of her thigh. She tried to get up but tripped over Conner's feet and stumbled backwards.

"Easy, princess," Conner joked. He walked over to the fallen girl and offered his hand to help her up. She refused his offered and got up by herself, brushing off the dirt from her clothes.

"Can you stop calling me 'princess'?" she asked. "I'm not exactly princess-y material."

"Whatever," he said.

Kira looked around the tunnel. "Where are we?"  
>"Under the ground in a tunnel," Ethan answered. "Wanna go see where it leads to?"<p>

"Lead the way," Kira offered. He nodded and the computer geek led the rock star wannabe and the soccer superstar down the passageway.

* * *

><p>Kira wasn't sure how long they had been walking for, but it seemed like an insanely long time. To pass the time, she started to sing. Her voice floated through the tunnel and she almost forgot that she was in a creepy, dark tunnel instead of on a bright lit stage. "Can you bring it down a little, babe? I'm trying to focus here." Conner passed up Kira and took the lead.<p>

Stopping suddenly, she stared at him. "Did you call me babe?" When the teen didn't give her an answer, she turned to Ethan. "Did he just call me babe?"

Ethan shrugged. "I don't know," he answered honestly, "I was groovin' to your tunes."

Conner was staring at one of the walls when Kira stepped in front of him. "What? Just chill out, okay?"

Absolutely furious, Kira lashed out. "Listen. My name is Kira, not princess and definitely not babe. Maybe you should right it on your hand to remember."

"Okay, 'Kira', you might want to get out of my way then. I found something pretty prehistoric that will get us out of detention for life," Conner said, not even looking at her.

"What is this great discovery that you have made, jock?" Kira asked. He didn't say a word as he pointed behind her. Once she laid her eyes on the wall, she let out a breathy "Whoa."

"What is it?" Ethan asked as he ran up to the others. "Oh." In front of them was a tiny replica of a T-Rex, probably a baby if Ethan had to guess. It was perfectly preserved, and there wasn't a bone missing from the skeleton.

Grabbing for the bottom jaw, Conner tried to yank it free from the dirt. "I don't think you should do—" Kira started to say but stopped when an area next to the skeleton lifted from the ground. A ginormous room was reveled filled to the brim with the latest technology and various dinosaur-like things. The trio slowly walked in, afraid someone might catch them. "I could do a crazy music video in here," Kira whispered as she looked around the room.

"Hey guys, check this out!" Ethan was standing in front of a table. What was on it was blocked by his body, but from the tone of his voice, it seemed pretty important. Conner and Kira ran over and their jaws dropped. Three, different colored stones dimly glowed blue, red, and yellow, corresponding to the colors the teenagers were wearing. Conner suddenly felt something inside of him that was tugging at his heart. He wasn't sure what it was but decided to pull against it. Without his consent, his right arm started to reach out towards the red rock. No matter how hard he tried, Conner couldn't pull back his arm.  
>"What are you doing?" Ethan saw Conner's arm reaching towards the rock as if he was going to grab it.<p>

"Look," Conner said, "I've sat through enough science classes to know that this is definitely prehistoric. And I don't want to miss practice."

"I hate to agree with him, I really do," said Kira, "but I have already miss one band practice and I don't want to miss another rehearsal."

Conner couldn't hold back his arm any longer and just gave in to whatever had been pulling on him. The two others followed his lead. When their hands were just inches away from grabbing them, the stones flew up into the palms of their hands, glowing much more brightly than they had been for the last couple of minutes.

"What are they?" Kira asked.

"I don't know," Ethan said, looking at his intently. "But I can go online and figure it out." Conner let out a little laugh. "What?"  
>"You in front of a computer," Conner said while looking at his rock. "Let me put my surprised face on."<br>Ethan looked up from the glowing stone to look Conner straight in the eye. "Ten years from now when your hair line is receding and you're playing pick-up soccer in the park because your dreams of going pro didn't exactly work out, I'll have my own multimillion dollar software business." As Ethan stared off dreamily into space, the others exchanged strange looks at the blue guy. Shaking her head, Kira turned to leave.

"Where are you going?" Conner asked.

"I don't want to think about what kind of creep lives here and what he's going to do to us when he finds out we're taking these things," she said, holding up her yellow gem. She left the impressive room with the two boys on her trail.

* * *

><p>Tommy walked out towards his car hoping he could find the kids and leave the museum as soon as possible. He needed to figure this out and figure it out now. <em>Wait a minute,<em> he thought, feeling as though something was watching him. He turned around and looked up. Peering over the top of the building was a huge T-Rex that looked exactly like the one in front of the museum. It reached its neck down to Tommy's height and grimly smiled. It let out a deafening roar that could have made trees kneel backwards to the beast. Tommy braced himself, getting as low as he possibly could to the ground and planted his feet. When he could hear again, he stood up and looked the dinosaur straight in the eye. Leaping up in the air, he spun around and kicked a foot into the dinosaur's nose. Reeling back from surprise, it roared once more, but its focus was not on Tommy. Seeing an escape route, Tommy took off running towards his Jeep. He locked the door without realizing why he did. "Great idea, Tommy!" he said to himself. "Go ahead and lock your car. There's no way the giant living dinosaur that's right behind you is going to get you!"

Hoping the kids were okay, he started the engine and made a u-turn out of the museum. Quickly glancing back, Tommy saw the dinosaur closing in on him. "Think, Tommy, think," he said. He accelerated his car, hoping that it would gain him some time to think of something. He whipped around a curve and looked in his review mirror. The T-Rex was right behind, barely any space between the machine and the beast. "If there is any damage done to my new car, I am going to kill that thing," Tommy threatened. Pushing his foot down harder on the gas, he sped off, once more creating space. Not wanting to give up the chase, the T-Rex picked up its speed as it went off after its prey.

After coming around another bend, Tommy started to smile. Up ahead was something that looked like a bridge. He looked back and saw the dinosaur was slowing down, but not yet giving up. Knowing he only had a few more seconds left, Tommy picked up the pace, hoping the monster would, too.

Keeping his eyes on the road, Tommy raced underneath the bridge. The T-Rex let out a huge roar as it came racing towards him. Suddenly, the roar stopped short and Tommy could finally look. Turning off the car and climbing out, he walked over to the fallen creature. Noticing a loose flap of skin near the skull, Tommy picked it up and pulled it back, reveling a network of machines. Pulling back more "skin", he saw a tape recorder that was on repeat, playing the roar every so often. There was only one man Tommy could think of who knew this much about machines and dinosaurs. "Mercer."

* * *

><p>"The gems have moved. I can feel them." Turning to its minions, "Bring them to me. Do not let anything stand between you and those gems. If anything gets in your way, kill it."<p>

* * *

><p>Hey everyone! Happy belated Fourth of July to all of my homies in the U. S. of A.! Yeah! Woo Hoo! Okay, on a serious note, I finished this chapter, and I hope you guys liked it because that's kinda my goal. I don't really have anything else to talk about right now so you know what that means... COMMENTS TIME!<p>

BellaVision-Thank you

oldtvlover-Thanks

PrincessOfDestiny14-Thank you and I love blueberry cheesecake. How did you know? The Gold and Pink Rangers will be former rangers, but I can't release that top-secret information just yet;)

fallingstar22-Thank you and so will I

Well, that's it for now. Click that little button down there and leave a review. The review can be about anything really, I don't care. Reviews just make me happy:) Thanks for reading and leave a review or subscribe to this story!

Until next chapter,  
>Writingaddict169<p> 


	4. The First Battle

Chapter 3: The First Battle

Seeing a light up ahead, Ethan yelled, "Come on. This way!" The three teens ran out of the dark tunnel and into bright sunlight.

Brushing off the dirt from her clothes, Kira asked, "What part of the forest is this?"

"I don't know," Ethan said. "Does anyone have a compass? We can get out of here if we have a compass."

"Oh, no dude, I'm sorry," Conner apologized, "I left my compass at home. Usually I carry it around with me in case I ever get lost in a forest."

The teens stopped short when they heard a roar in the distance. "What was that?" Kira asked. There had already been enough weird today and she certainly didn't need any more.

"The wind?" Conner answered weakly.

"That ain't the wind," Ethan said grimly. "As much as we wish it was, it isn't." With a flash of green light coming down from the sky, twenty things stood in front of them wielding things that looked like swords but were attached to their arms. On their heads were masks that looked like skulls of dinosaurs. Dark armor covered their bodies and they talked in the strangest tongue. Another group of twenty appeared on their left. Looking at each other with wide eyes and scared faces, the teens realized they were outmatched and about to get their asses kicked.

As the creatures advanced towards them, Conner whispered, "Don't move. Maybe they are just like bears. If we play dead, they'll go away."  
>"Conner, you're taking this whole 'dumb jock' thing to a whole new level," Kira whispered back. "They are obviously out to get us. So yes, let's make it easy for them because we want to die."<p>

"This is definitely not the time to argue, you two," Ethan said. "New plan, run." The trio took off running in the opposite direction. The things took off after them.

Conner easily took the lead and the other two tried to keep up. Kira was at the back of the pack and she could hear the creepy things talking to each other and gaining on her. Not wanting to be left behind, she picked up her speed in attempt to catch up to the boys. Ethan and Conner leaped over a dried up river with ease and kept running. Kira leaped but had misjudged the distance. She fell back into the ditch with a scream, freezing Conner and Ethan in their tracks. Turning around to go help the fallen girl, they raced towards the ditch to help her out. Kira looked behind her and saw the monsters closing in. Trying to get out herself, she just kept falling back. "Guys, help!"  
>"We're coming!" Ethan yelled. When they reached the edge, Conner and Ethan put out their arms as Kira grabbed on. Lifting her out, they ran as soon as the things had jumped across and landed where Kira had been milliseconds before. Taking off running and making sure Kira wasn't last again, the three teens dashed through the woods.<br>"Do you know where you're going?" Kira asked breathless. She wasn't used to this running and she feel her legs starting to protest. She looked behind her and saw Ethan feeling the same thing. Conner was the true athlete on this team and didn't look like he was breaking a sweat.

"Uh, guys, as much as I don't want to, I think we should pick up the pace," Ethan suggested.

"Why's that?" Kira asked.

"Those things are right behind us!" Not even wanting to look back, Conner agreed and started running faster hoping the other two would follow his lead and keep up with him. Out of nowhere, Kira saw the ground flying at her and she braced herself for impact. Looking to see what had tripped her, she noticed a tree root had somehow wrapped itself around her foot. Noticing the gaining monsters, she let out a deafening scream. The things that had been running towards her were throw backwards into their companions, stopping the entire group and even causing some to fall down. After uncovering his ears from the loud sound that had escaped from the girl's mouth, Conner rushed over and helped her up quickly. "What the hell was that?" he asked as he set her free.  
>"You think I know?" she said. Seeing a bright yellow light shining from her pockets, Kira took out her gem. She looked at it and an image of a pterodactyl flashed in her mind.<p>

"Guys, come on!" Ethan urged from up ahead. Conner and Kira ran towards him and then split off three different ways.

Kira ran towards some trees before remembering what she had done just a few seconds before. Turning to face the monsters, she let out another scream, causing the things to crouch in terror, and for some, to flee. The ones that remained came rushing towards her. The first one leaped straight at her but Kira easily ducked out of the way. The next one she punched in the stomach and kicked him, sending him flying into a tree. The rest rushed up on her and she blocked some of their punches before she threw some of her own.

Ethan, on the other hand, was quite the opposite. He was getting thrown around like he was back in elementary school when the bullies picked on him. The three things that were holding on to him lifting him up in the air and threw him onto the ground. The others stood by and watched happily before joining in on the fun. Ethan struggled to his knees as the monsters circled him like some gang fight. One of them, the leader Ethan guessed, charged him. Not knowing what else to do, Ethan held up his arms to block his head from the sword-like arms that were slashing at him.

When the sword came swinging down onto his arms, Ethan didn't feel a thing. Quickly recovering from his shock, he lifted his arms up over his head and kicked the creature in the stomach. Looking at his arms, he noticed blue shining scales covered his arms. He pulled out his gem that was glowing blue and an image of a triceratops appeared in his mind. "What is happening to me?" He didn't have the time to answer, though, as the rest of the attackers charged him.

Conner was fighting as hard as he could. His brother had taught him some moves and he had wanted to test them. Figuring this was the best time, Conner did and was holding pretty well until two creatures attacked him. They threw him through the air and watched as he hit his spine against the trunk of a tree. Struggling to get up, he noticed a red light seeping through his fingers. Realizing it was the gem, Conner asked, "And what do you do?" A picture of a tyrannosaurus flashed in his mind. With renewed energy, Conner stood up and kicked one of the monsters who was standing still, sending him to the ground. He looked around and saw that every single monster was standing still. Only then did Conner realized that they weren't standing still, he was moving really fast. He saw two creatures slowly jumping up into the air, and he waited until the perfect chance to kick them back.

Kira and Ethan ran over to Conner when he yelled, "Over here!" They pulled out their gems and looked at each other in amazement.

"I never thought I would say this, but I love detention!" Ethan exclaimed.  
>"Hey, you guys!" The teens looked over and saw Dr. Oliver running towards them. Quickly, they hid the gems behind their backs and tried to look as nonchalant as they could. "Are you guys alright?" Worry was etched on his face as he scanned their bodies with his eyes for any scratches or damages.<p>

"Yeah, " Ethan said.

"Nothing out of the ordinary happened?" he asked again. Tommy could tell that the teenagers weren't telling him something, but what?  
>"No," Ethan answered again. "Just your average hike in the woods. Lots of furry little creatures!" He was trying to get Dr. Oliver off of their case, hoping that no one would let anything slip.<p>

"And lots of scaly ones," Kira muttered under her breath. Ethan and Conner narrowed their eyes at her and looked back at their teacher before he noticed. But he did. Tommy once more wondered what they weren't telling him and how he could get it out of them.

"Why do you ask?" Conner asked, hoping to direct the attention off of the girl and onto the adult.

"No reason," Tommy answered. "You guys were gone for a long time and I started to worry. You know, strange things happen in these woods."  
>"I told you!" Ethan exclaimed.<p>

"C'mon, I should get you guys back," he said. Tommy jogged out of the woods and the teens strolled slowly.

When they were finally alone, Kira whispered, "I think we should tell him."  
>"No way!" argued Ethan. "I've seen about five thousand sci-fi movies where the guy with the powers ends up on some freaky government lab table with a bunch of wires in him."<br>"Even I know that," Conner agreed.

Tommy suddenly reappeared in front of the teens. "Are you guys coming?"

* * *

><p>He tiredly stumbled through his door as the excitement of the first day of school crashed on him. Supervising detention didn't help, either. Tommy slammed the door shut and dropped his messenger bag by the front door. Walking to his kitchen, he threw a frozen pizza into the oven and waited for it to heat up. Grabbing a soda from the fridge, he made his way over to the living room and grabbed a hold on a model T-Rex's jaw. Pulling it down, a panel across from where he stood slid up and revealed a dark staircase.<p>

Climbing down the stairs with soda in hand, Tommy breathed in the dank smell of the "basement". It was really more like a cave than anything else, but if he called it a cave in front of people, they would think he was crazy. He once thought about calling it the Dino Cave, but figured it sounded too much like the Bat Cave from Batman. He didn't want to steal the superhero's thunder.

Tommy walked to the main computer counsel and shook the mouse slightly so the machine would wake up. He pulled up a map of Reefside and searched for any new energy readings. If Mercer was in town, there had to be something. After a half an hour of looking and nothing to show for it, Tommy closed the map and rubbed his eyes. He climbed out of the chair to see if the pizza was ready but stopped short. He walked to the center of the cave where a pedestal stood with three very important objects on top of it. But the three very important objects weren't there. Frantically looking around, Tommy tried to locate them, seeing if they had fallen off and rolled underneath a table or something. Not finding anything, Tommy closed his eyes and suddenly noticed how tired he was. Between the first day of school, supervising detention, being chased by a lifelike T-Rex, and finding out some shocking news, he was exhausted and wanted nothing more than sleep.

Quickly sniffing the air, Tommy uttered, "Something smells like it's burning." Realizing what it was, he sprinted up the stairs to rescue his pizza.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Conner, Kira, and Ethan met up outside the school. "I still think we should tell Dr. Oliver. At least something. I think he knows we're not telling him," Kira said. The three teens had gone to school early to talk about yesterday and what they should do. After weighing all of the pros and cons, they decided not to tell anyone. The teenagers were walking towards the school's front doors, but kept their distance so no one would see them.<p>

"Kira, if he, or anyone else, finds out, we'll be in a government lab before we can blink," Ethan reasoned.

"So we all agree, we don't talk about anything that happened yesterday to anyone but ourselves," Conner finished. The other two nodded, but Kira's seemed angry.  
>"I can do better than that," she said, stopping in front of the boys. "Just forget I was here and I'll do the same." She dropped the yellow gem into Conner's open palm and started to walk away.<br>"Wait," Ethan said, "how come he gets it?"

Rolling her eyes at the immaturity of boys, she took the rock from Conner's hand and gave it to Ethan. "Well, here!"

As they continued to argue and Conner trying to keep Kira in on the secret, Cassidy was talking to Devin about some of the research she had done last night. "I'm telling you, something's not right about Dr. Oliver," she warned. "I called Angel Grove High and they wouldn't tell me anything. It's like he didn't even exist!" Scanning the entrance of the school to make sure no one could hear what she was saying, Cassidy's eyes landed on a strange sight. Pulling her right-hand man behind a parked car, she ordered, "Get out the camera!"

"What? Why?" asked Devin.  
>"Because," she moaned, "the most popular guy in school is talking to the wannabe and computer geek. They wouldn't be caught dead with each other. If that's not strange, I don't know what is." Devin handed her her pink lip gloss as she finished her make-up.<p>

"You know what? I give up!" Kira screamed and walked away. Cassidy lifted her head up in interest. This would certainly make a great story, if only she knew what was going on between the three.

As Kira walked away from the stunned guys, she felt a strange breeze blow across her face. "You have got to be kidding me." Out of nowhere, the monsters from yesterday leaped out of the woods and grabbed onto her arms. No matter how hard she struggled, she couldn't break free. She knew next to nothing on how to fight and without the gem, she couldn't have an ounce of knowledge on fighting or the insanely loud scream.

Luckily, Conner and Ethan had been watching her walk away and saw the whole thing. Sprinting to help her, Conner and Ethan screamed, "Kira!"

"Get the camera!" Cassidy yelled at Devin from behind the car. While he was trying to get the case open, a green light came out of the sky and the monsters and Kira were sucked in just as the boys had reached them. Conner picked up her bag and stared at the sky.

"Go. What do you see? What's happening?" Cassidy asked excitedly.

"You gotta see this. I got an awesome shot of it" Devin pushed play and on the screen appeared a video of a tree.

Disappointed, Cassidy pointed out, "It's nothing."  
>"It is not nothing!" Devin protested. "It's a tree!"<p>

"Come on, we're going to be late for class."

* * *

><p>"So, where are we going?" Conner asked as he rounded a curve. The red mustang zoomed down the empty road, and the sound of the engine made him feel like he was in heaven.<p>

"Dr. Oliver's house."  
>"What's he gonna do?" Panic filled Conner's voice as he looked at the blue passenger.<br>"One, he's a teacher. Two, he's a dinosaur guy, so maybe he knows what those things that took Kira are," he said.

"Okay, so, where does he live?"  
>"1992 Valencia Road," Ethan answered.<p>

"That's way up in the woods. What's he doing out there?" Conner asked.

"I don't know, privacy from snooping teenagers?"

The car pulled up into the gravel driveway, and the boys jumped out. Running up to the door, Ethan knocked while Conner looked inside to see if anyone was coming. After a few seconds of knocking and nobody answering the door, Conner walked over. Lightly pushing on the door, it swung open and Ethan asked, "What are you doing?"  
>"Why would he leave the door unlocked?" Conner retorted.<p>

"He's doesn't have any neighbors."

"What, you've never heard about the three bears?" Conner suggested with a smirk as he walked into the house.

"Was that the last book you read?" Ethan said with a mocking smile.

"Dr. Oliver!" Conner called as he walked through the house. "Dr. Oliver!" When the duo entered the living room, Conner ran over to a model T-Rex and put his hand on its jaw. "Man, check it out! He even has dinosaurs all over this place!"

About to pull down on the jaw, Ethan stopped the jock and warned, "Hey, remember what happened last time you did that? We got attacked by freaking monsters."

Ignoring his friend, Conner pulled down on the jaw and said, "Dude, the guy's a teacher not...Batman." A panel of the wall slid up and revealed a staircase. Conner walked over and started to descend.

"Uh, Conner, I really don't think we should be doing this," Ethan said nervously. "We're not supposed to be here, we should be at school."  
>"Do you want to rescue Kira or not?" Conner questioned.<p>

"Well, yeah, but—"

"Then let's go!"

When they came to the end of the stairs, the boys stopped in shock. "This is the place where we were yesterday," Conner said, realizing.  
>"Uh uh, no way," Ethan refused. "I refuse to believe that my first hour science teacher has a big cave underneath his house filled with different dino things and owns these gems that we <span>stole<span>!"

"If you're looking for extra credit, you've come to the wrong place."

The guys turned around and saw Dr. Oliver standing with his arms crossed, looking very pissed.

* * *

><p>Hey guys! I want to apologize for the week's delay of the new chapter. My power has been out since last Monday and I haven't been able to get onto a computer to upload this for you. But, I'm back and so is the story. It's time for...COMMENTS TIME!<p>

fallingstar22-Thank you, and locking his car when trouble was going to happen just seemed like something Tommy would do.

BellaVision-Hopefully I did it justice;)

oldtvlover-Thanks!

YellowPrincess-Thanks!

csimesser1-I'm glad you did:)

Well that's it for now. Leave a comment, question, concern, or an idea by click that little button below. Thanks for reading this chapter and sorry about the delay. But hey, what can you do?

Until next chapter,  
>Writingaddict169<p> 


	5. Surprise!

Chapter 4: Surprise!

Kira struggled against the restraints that bounded her arms and legs to a table. Deciding that she should save her strength, Kira stopped and looked around the dimly lit room. It looked like some crazy, psychopathic scientist lab with all of the test tubes and machines surrounding her. "Hello?" she called out hesitantly. "Is anybody there?"

"Why, of course child," came a woman's voice.  
>Frantically looking around for the source, Kira asked, "Where are you?"<p>

"Right here." A lady dressed all in black appeared out of the shadows and made her way over to bounded teen.

"Where am I?" Kira asked.

"Don't worry about that dear," she comforted. "Just give me one little thing and you'll be free to go."  
>"What? I've got nothing on me."<br>"Yes you do," the woman said. "Give me the crystal and you can walk away."  
>"Crystal? What crystal?" Kira asked.<p>

"The dino gem. The stone that gives you your powers. I want it," she said impatiently.

"I don't have it. Can I go now?" Kira asked.  
>"Not until you give me what I want."<br>"But I don't—"

"Save it for the judge," the lady threatened as she stuck a needle into Kira's arm. When the liquid was injected into her body, Kira felt her eyelids growing heavy as she fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

><p>"Dr. O, before you go up, can you just listen to us for one minute? Let us explain why we're here." Ethan bargained.<p>

"Dude," Conner whispered, "he's just going to laugh at us. He's going to think we're crazy!"

"I've seen plenty of crazy things, Conner." Turning to Ethan, Tommy said, "You have one minute starting now."

"Kira's gone!" Conner blurted out. "She was taken by some crazy dinosaur, skeleton-looking things. A green light appeared and it just sucked her and the things into it." Tommy turned away from the two and sighed. "He doesn't look convinced," Conner whispered.

"I am convinced, Conner. And I can still hear. I'm not that old." As Tommy walked over to the huge computer, he explained, "They're called Tyrannodrones and I helped create them."  
>"Class project?" Ethan asked.<p>

"What class?" Conner uttered.

"Long story, I don't have time to explain it now. Right now, we have to figure out why they wanted Kira." Turning to the teenagers, he asked, "Do you have any ideas?"

Ethan and Conner looked at each other and nodded. Reaching his hand into his pocket, Conner pulled out his red gem. "It might have something to do with this." Tommy looked from the gem to Conner, and back at the gem and back at Conner.

"Where is your's?" Tommy asked Ethan. Knowing it would be pointless to deny anything, he pulled out both his and Kira's gems and handed the yellow one to his teacher.

"We're really sorry," Ethan apologized. "We didn't know they contained superpowers and those lizard things were going to attack us."

Tommy was mad, to say the least, but he could understand why they did it. They hadn't known, and Tommy probably would have done the same if he were in their shoes. The only reason why he was truly mad was because of what had happened. If the Tyrannodrones had really captured Kira, then that meant what Tommy had hoped for wasn't true. "I can't really blame you," he started. "After all, you don't see this everyday."

"Kinda like having your science teacher have ruins of an ancient civilization in a cave under his house?" Ethan joked.

"Look, not that this isn't cool or anything, but, seriously dude, you gotta come clean," Conner suggested.

"Okay, first of all, don't call me dude," Tommy stormed. "Second, I don't have to 'come clean' to you. I'll find Kira and you guys forget you ever saw anything." He walked away towards Ethan to get him to leave. With a look of determination on his face, Conner stopped in front of his teacher, forcing him to listen to his side. Without even realizing it, Conner used his super speed and looked at Tommy whose eyes were wide. "I see the gem has already started to bond with your DNA."  
>"You can tell us all about it now, or at my next parent teacher conference." He looked the elder in the eye, planning not to move until he got his way. "We all go and rescue Kira."<p>

Seeing no way out of it, Tommy agreed. "You guys can come on one condition. You do whatever I say, when I say it. Got it?" Conner and Ethan nodded. "Good. Now let's go. We're wasting time."

* * *

><p>Kira woke up to find the previous restraints had been removed. "Glad to see you awake." The same lady as before walked out of the shadows and glared at Kira.<br>Getting up from the table and moving away from the advancing girl, Kira said, "Do you have a name because you look really familiar."  
>"My master calls me Elsa. You should be glad you are still alive girl. He decided to keep you alive in order to tell us where the crystal is. Do not make me wish to disobey his orders, because I will."<p>

"Okay, well, I'm just going to go now," Kira trailed off. She was an inch from the door and freedom and she wasn't about to let it slip away. "Bye now!" She took off like a rocket and didn't look back. She could hear Elsa running after her, calling for someone named "Tyrannodrones", but quite honestly, she didn't want to stick around to meet them. She turned down a long hallway and saw something glowing up ahead. Using every ounce of energy she had, she sprinted towards the light. "A green portal," she said a loud. "Well, if it got me here, it can bring me back home." Without a second thought, she leaped through the light and the world went black.

* * *

><p>"Okay, so let me get this straight," Ethan said, "when you created these 'Tyrannodrones', they were a part of a science experiment? What happened?" Ethan, Conner, and Tommy were flying down the road in Tommy's black Jeep, hoping to find Kira. Conner sat brooding in the back for whatever reason. Ethan personally thought that it was because they hadn't found Kira yet, but he would never tell the red boy that.<p>

"When I created them, they weren't supposed to be used like this," Tommy explained. "A few years back, I was trying to find a way to combine dinosaur DNA with modern technology. My friend, a scientist named Dr. Anton Mercer, was helping me."  
>"Anton Mercer, isn't he that rich guy?" Ethan asked.<p>

"Yep. He disappeared a couple of years back. Shortly after his disappearance, our lab was attacked and everything was stolen. Well, almost everything. The gems I had managed to grab before the attack and a couple of other important documents. I escaped and set camp up here in Reefside, hoping to figure out what was going on and who had broken in."

"So the guy who did this is back?" Conner asked from the backseat, breaking his silence.

"He calls himself Mesogog." Tommy pulled up at a stop sign and stopped.

"And you think he's after the gems?"  
>"Looks like it."<br>Ethan looked over at his teacher and questioned, "This is very interesting and all, but how is this helping us find Kira? It's not like she's going to fall out of the sky!"

Above the black Jeep, a green light appeared and something landed on top of Conner's lap. A girl. She brushed her hair out of her eyes to see and locked gazes with Conner. "Conner?"

"Kira! You're alive!" He wrapped the girl into a hug who returned it, surprised.

"He thought you were dead," Ethan admitted.

"I did not!" Conner lied. The truth was, he was scared that they wouldn't be able to rescue Kira. There was something about her that made him nuts, but it was a good kind of nuts. If he had never seen Kira again, he would never have forgiven himself for letting her be taken by the Tyrannodrones.

"Invisi-portals," Dr. Oliver said randomly.

"What?" Kira asked.  
>"The thing that dropped you here, they're called invisi-portals."<p>

Disregarding her teacher, Kira looked at the two boys and asked, "What are you guys doing here?"

"We came to rescue you," Conner said.

"Way to come when I don't need you anymore," Kira nagged.

"Are you sure about that?" A few yards away from the Jeep, the same green light that brought Kira brought something a little less inviting. The crazy monsters they had fought in the woods yesterday stood on the road, waiting for the battle to begin. Their leader, a tall man dressed from head to toe in a black and silver battle armor, advanced towards them, sword drawn and shield up.

Taking his own lead, Conner stepped in front of Kira protectively. "What do you think you're doing?" Kira stormed. "I can defend myself."  
>"Well, then get up here!" he cried. "I'm not holding you back from walking."<p>

"Uh, guys, can we do this later?" Ethan asked. "I'm pretty sure now is not the time to work on whatever is going on between the two of you."  
>"There is nothing going on between us!" the accused denied. Rolling his eyes, Ethan focused on the task at hand. Just as they were getting ready into fighting stances, Tommy stepped in front of them.<p>

"Mesogog found a new goon to do his dirty work?"

"You have no right to speak to my master that way," the man's voice boomed. "Come with me peacefully and nothing shall happen to you or the kids."  
>"I'm gonna have to say...no."<p>

"Attack!" it screamed and its minions launched into battle. Tommy took most of the creatures off to the side, leaving a couple to the new rangers. They weren't trained yet and even with the aid from the gems, they wouldn't be able to fend them all off. Tommy ducked underneath a wild right hook and quickly kicked the attached body. Flipping two more onto the ground, he punched another charging one to join its friends. He looked over and saw the kids were doing well on their own. Kira was using the scream to her advantage, knocking out several Tyrannodrones at a time and giving her self a quick break before launching back into battle. Ethan was struggling a bit, but soon found his rhythm once he kicked a wooden box into one of the Tyrannodrone's face. Conner was fighting and getting a little advantage by using his super speed to knock out more than one at a time. As good as they seemed, Tommy could tell there was a ton of work to be done.

The leader of the Tyrannodrones rushed over to Tommy and aimed its foot at his stomach. Tommy held onto the side of the car to regain his balance and ducked out of the way of an on-coming blow to the head. While distracted, he felt the air rush out of his body and landed on his back on the road, completely vulnerable. Not wanting to see a sword through his heart, Tommy jumped up and ran back towards the Jeep. He leaped onto the back and started kicking the drones out of the way before their leader rushed at him. He scissor kicked the monster's head and landed a few feet away from the tiny army. "Make sure you tell your master that Dr. Oliver is back," he announced.

"I will, but remember this, Dr. Oliver, this battle may be over, but the war has just begun." Green light flashed and the attackers disappeared.

The ex-ranger looked behind him and was glad to see the kids were still alive and didn't have any noticeable injuries.

Walking towards the car, Tommy said, "Come on, let's get you guys back home. It's getting late and I don't want your parents to worry."  
>"Yeah, because then you would have to explain everything," Conner said snidely.<p>

Sighing in exasperation, Tommy gave in. "Look, I'll tell you guys everything tomorrow after school, I promise. Now, let's go home so you can do your homework and get a good night's rest." The teens walked towards the Jeep, hoping their teacher wouldn't back down on his promise.

* * *

><p>The first bell rang and Conner, Ethan, and Kira stepped into the already noisy classroom. Kira was about to follow the two guys when she was roughly pulled away. "Kira Ford, I'm Cassidy Cornell of the Reefside High News Network."<br>"Cassidy, I know who you are," she said. "We've gone to school since kindergarten."

"Whatever. What can you tell me about the mysterious things happening in Reefside?"

Cassidy thrust a voice recorder into Kira's face waiting for an answer. Confusion flashed over her face. "What things?"

The nosy girl rolled her eyes in annoyance. "The sudden friendship between you, Conner McKnight, and Ethan James." Kira opened her mouth to come up with some lie, but Cassidy plowed on. "Or better yet, the strange creatures that appeared out of nowhere and attacked you in broad daylight?"

Kira glanced at Conner out of the corner of her eye and saw him watching her thoughtfully, almost as if he was waiting for her to ask him for his help. Giving Cassidy her full attention, Kira carefully answered, "Look, I don't know what you're talking about. As for Conner, Ethan, and I hanging out, we got grouped together to do a huge project for a class. For me, well, you can clearly tell that I'm fine and I didn't disappear because I'm standing right in front of you. But you, you look a little pasty." Giving the reporter her best fake smile, Kira stalked off to sit down at her seat while Cassidy furiously checked herself in a compact mirror.

"Cassidy, please sit down unless you plan on giving a lecture about the Mesozoic period and giving me time to prepare your first quiz," Dr. Oliver said as he walked through the door. She quickly sat down without protest. Tommy felt a little tremble underneath his feet, but didn't think anything of it. After all, it was California. He looked behind the students and saw the skeleton of a small model of a T-Rex shaking and starting to swing back and forth a little faster with each revolution. Next thing he knew, Tommy was staring at the black counter top in front of him and the ground was shaking violently. He noticed the students were clinging onto their desks for their lives. The previously sunny sky turned pitch-black in an instant and the light switched off. A moment later the emergency generator kicked in and the lights flicked on, now only half as bright to save power. A huge bolt of lightning flashed across the sky and the students ran over to the windows to see what was going on.

Cassidy's right hand man came running into class with a big smile on his face."Cass, you are never going to believe what's happened!" Devin divulged as if whatever he was about to say was some big secret.

"Let me guess," she said, boredom laced in her voice, "the lights went off and day turned into night in the middle of the day."  
>Devin's smile vanished and his happy mood was gone. He looked over at the windows where everyone was standing and the smile returned. "Cool."<p>

"Devin! What is it?" she exploded.

"There's some wack report about mechanical dinosaurs attacking downtown." Dr. Oliver's head turned to face the two teenage reporters.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Cassidy yanked on her partner's arm and made her way to the door.

_Mechanical dinosaurs?_ Tommy thought. _Oh no. I have to get downtown and I have to get there fast. And I need the kids. But how do I get them out of here? _

"Cassidy, Devin, wait," he ordered at the escaping pair. The intercom came on and Principal Randall's voice could be heard. While their teacher was distracted, the two reporters left the room fast. The rest of the students soon followed them out the door to get to the front lawn for the meeting Randall had requested. Soon the classroom was empty except for four people.  
>"Okay, Dr. O, now would be a good time to start explaining what's going on," Kira offered in a slightly scared voice.<p>

"I would love to, but we kind of don't have time," Tommy apologized. "If Mesogog gets the Bio Zords before we do, the zords will be under his control and there will be nothing we can do to stop him."

The teacher left the room while Ethan asked, "What's the worst that can happen?" The other two shrugged and quickly followed Dr. Oliver out of the room.

* * *

><p>"So these mechanical dinosaurs can make one really big, really bad ass fighting machine? And they're your friends? So why can't you just tell them to stop?" The group was now in Dr. Oliver's basement and Tommy had about fifty thousand things running through his mind at the same time. After they had sneaked away through the back of the school to get to Tommy's car, they drove to his house while he explained what was going on and filled Kira in on what he had told the boys while she was M.I.A.<p>

"They're Bio Zords. Fusion powered weapons that use real dinosaur DNA to make their own actions." He skipped the small staircase that led to a small computer and grabbed something off of a table.

"And let me guess," Ethan said, "you helped make them."  
>"Um, yes," he said sadly. "But right now we, I mean you, have to tame them." As much as Tommy wanted to go out in the field of battle again, he knew it wasn't his time. He was done being a ranger, and this incarnation of rangers didn't include him being a part of the team, but their supervisor. He never realized how old that made him feel.<p>

"Yeah, well, I'll bbl if it's all the same to you," Ethan said.

Dr. Oliver gave the boy dressed in blue a strange look. "What does bbl mean?"  
>"Be back later. Bye!" He started to walk away until Tommy called his name.<br>"You can do this, but you won't be alone. Ever since I found the Dino Gems, I've had these waiting. They're to help you harness the power." He pulled out a silver case and opened it up.  
>"What are they?" Conner asked, speaking for the first time.<p>

"They're your morphers; Dino Morphers, they're called. Use these to become the next team of Power Rangers."

* * *

><p>Hey guys! I'm not sure if you saw my little tidbit of info in two weeks' ago chapter, but I was at band camp so I just wanted to let you all know in case you were wondering where I went to. This week is another exciting week at my school's band camp for our competitive marching band show. It's called Symphonic Delusions and it's a pretty neat show, I think. Anyways, COMMENTS TIME!<p>

XRanger13-Thank you and I will:)

MaxKnight1010101-Thank you! Conner and Kira is easily one of my favorite couples, and I'm so sorry that you had to see that horribly long profile. I hope you didn't read the entire thing... Anyways, wow, now I feel like I have to bump up my game! I know that there have been plenty of retellings, but I plan on making this one my own for the person who requested it, BellaVision. After all, she did ask me to write it with a couple of surprising twists and turns. Hopefully this becomes one of your favorites, or at least, a very good retelling.

fallingstar22-Thank you and no he did not! Haha!

BellaVision-Yup, I just hope I'm not making them too long so it starts boring people.

csimesser1-Thanks!

oldtvlover-Thank you:)

YellowPrincess-Thank you and of course I would! I have at least sixty-six more chapters to go, perhaps longer depending how much I decide to write. I hope you guys are in this for the long run;) This is going to be a Conner/Kira fic because they are one of my favorite couples in the Power Rangers Universe.

Well, that's it for now. I think this COMMENTS TIME was one of the longest I've had in a really, really long time. Thank you guys so much for reading and reviewing! It brightens my day when I see a new review left for me:) Keep on reading, reviewing, and spreading the word to other FanFic readers if you truly enjoy this story. See that little green button down there? Yeah, well, if you click on that, a new window will open so you can leave any ideas, comments, compliments, flames, etc. you want at no charge! Isn't that amazing! Oh, and I'm also open to doing requests if you have anything in mind. It can just be a one-shot starring a certain couple or an entire story involving an entire cast, it's up to you. Thanks everyone!

Until next chapter,  
>Writingaddict169<p> 


	6. Taming the Beasts

Chapter 5: Taming the Beasts

"We can't be Power Rangers!" Kira protested. "Aren't we supposed to fly around with super human strength and come up with weapons from nowhere?"

"Exactly." Tommy looked at his three students dead in the eye hoping they would understand how important and serious this matter was. He anxiously looked at his watch and saw how much time they had already wasted. They needed to get going and they had to leave his house if they wanted to save the city and the zords. He quickly passed out each morpher, giving the red one to Conner, the blue one to Ethan, and the yellow one to Kira. "Look, we don't have much time before Mesogog takes the zords or the zords destroy the entire city. I understand this is shocking information to learn, but you're the Power Rangers and I know you didn't ask for it, but you're just going to have to deal with it for now. Once you've tamed the zords, we can come back to my house and chat over milk and cookies if that makes you guys happy. But we have to leave. Now."

* * *

><p>A black Jeep flew to a stop far away from nosy reporters and wandering people. If anyone found out about their identity, especially this early on, it wouldn't be pretty. Just because Lightspeed Rescue let it happen, doesn't mean Tommy was going to. He played by the book. After all, that's what Zordon had taught him and that was the way he was going to teach his rangers.<p>

"Okay, now all you have to do to power up is say 'Dino Thunder, power up'." The group jumped out of the car and ran towards the zords.

"That must be them," Conner said.

"Wow, great observation, Conner," Kira mocked.

"Now is not the time to argue, you two," Tommy scolded. "We've got bigger problems." In front of the group flashed a red light and the monster from the day before appeared.

"You're going to have to get past me, Zeltrax, if you want those zords," he said with his empty sounding voice.

"That's the part I'm looking forward to," Tommy said. Ever since yesterday, he had been itching for a rematch. Granted, this wasn't the most perfect time to do it, but it was better than nothing. If he could distract this creep, then Conner, Kira, and Ethan could tame the zords. "Guys, you need to morph right now. I'll distract this guy while you get the zords."

"Ready?" Conner asked.

"Ready."

"Dino Thunder, power up. Ha!"

In a flash of bright light, the new rangers were fully morphed for the first time. The brightly colored spandex, each a different color for each person, covered their whole body and a helmet was on top of each head. Along the sides were interlocking white and colored triangles and on the front was a large golden emblem of a circle with a three-toed footprint belonging to some dinosaur.

"Awesome," Conner said.

"This is so cool," Kira agreed.

"So, you are the Power Rangers?" Zeltrax said smoothly. "This shall prove to be an interesting battle."

"You guys go," Tommy yelled. "I'll handle this creep. We need to get the zords above all else!"

"Right, come on guys!" Conner urged.

While the rangers escaped, Tommy turned his attention onto Zeltrax. "If you want the rangers, you're going to have to get through me."

"That can easily be arranged," he said and pulled out a blaster from his belt. Tommy ducked out of the way just in time and threw a punch directed at Zeltrax's head, but landed it at his stomach. He aimed at kick at the monster's head, but it grabbed his leg and spun him around faster than a carousal before letting go. Tommy's body hit a wall of wooden boxes and fell to the ground like a rag doll. He couldn't remember fighting ever being this hard. Maybe he was just getting old, except, Tommy Oliver never really got old. Staying as still as he possibly could, he waited until Zeltrax stalked over to his fallen prey. He was just like any other villain, always vain enough to look at their masterpiece before moving on to the next item on their list. When Zeltrax was standing over his body, Tommy quickly grabbed a box laying next to him and threw it into his face. While he was distracted, Tommy swept his feet out from under him, causing the creature to fall hard flat on his back and making him groan. If Tommy had felt any ounce of feeling old, it was gone now.

He looked over at the rangers to see how they were doing and noticed they were struggling. They weren't sure how to do this and any doubt made the zords resistance to them stronger. "Have confidence!" Tommy yelled out. "If you have any doubt, they won't come to you, it'll make them want to run away. Coax them to you like you would with a cat stuck in a tree."  
>"I don't know if you noticed, Dr. O, but, they're dinosaurs," Ethan reminded his teacher. "They are like anything but cats!"<br>Tommy looked over at his fighting buddy and saw that Zeltrax was gaining strength and starting to get back up. He didn't have much time. "Just do it!" he yelled. Sensing someone was right behind him, Tommy's hand flew up, and hit the face of the person. Throwing his elbow back, he caught the guy off-guard and right in the gut. He heard a loud _Thump! _and was pleased to see Zeltrax on the ground once more.

He ran over to the rangers to see what was taking so long. Quite honestly, it shouldn't have taken this long or been so difficult. "Look, guys, I know it sounds ridiculous to talk to a man-eating dinosaur like a cat, but trust me, it isn't a real dinosaur. It just has some dinosaur DNA. It's still like any animal. It will come to you if you don't act threatening and if you just do as I say." He looked around at the three and saw doubt still in their eyes even though their faces were covered by the helmets. "Conner, why don't you go ahead and try. Don't worry, I'll walk you through it."  
>Conner nodded uncertainly, but stepped up in front of the group anyways. "Okay, now gently call out Tyrannozord to get its attention and look it straight in the eye." Conner did as he was told, but now the doubt had been replaced by fear as the big dark gold head swung its way to look at him. "Relax, everything is okay. Nothing is going to hurt you, I promise," Dr. Oliver spoke, almost as if he knew exactly what Conner was thinking. "Good. Now hold up your morpher and yell out Tyrannozord." Conner did as he was told and instantly the previous gold was replaced by red and the eyes flashed a bright green and not black. "Good, very good," Tommy complimented. Turning to Ethan and Kira, he said, "Your turn." The other two did exactly what Conner had done and the Tricerazord and the Pterazord turned blue and yellow, respectively.<p>

"Okay, the zords are now ours. Let's bring them back to my house."

"But what about Zeltrax over there?" Ethan asked.

"He'll be fine. Any moment now he will stand up, yell at us, and then disappear back to where he came from."  
>"You sound like you've done this a lot of times," Conner said curiously.<p>

"Taming zords, no. But I know what happens to the bad guys. Come on, the zords will follow us back." Tommy turned towards his car and started walking. The teens followed him and stayed silent the whole ride home.

* * *

><p>The next day after school Ethan took Conner and Kira to his favorite hang out, the Cyberspace Cafe.<p>

"What's this? It looks like a geek magnet," Conner said.

"It's not a geek magnet," Ethan defended. "It's the newest hang-out space in Reefside, and it's filled up to the walls with all of the latest technology. There's even a food bar where you can get practically anything to eat or drink! It's totally cool, and the girl who runs it is a MIT grad!" Stopping himself before he bubbled over in excitement, Ethan took a deep breath. "Just, come inside, and I promise you your lives will be changed forever."

"Hate to break it to you, Ethan," Kira said, "but I think Dr. O already beat you to the punch." The group laughed as they walked into the building. "Whoa," Kira breathed. Inside, the room looked much larger than the building let on and it had everything Ethan said and so much more. A mini arcade was on the right hand side of the entrance and the food bar was on the left. Scattered around the space were tables and computers hooked up against the walls. At the opposite end of the room was a huge stage backed with a stained glass mural.

"Like I said, Cyberspace has anything and everything. You can do anything here! Chat, play games, surf the web, stuff like that."

"Who came up with this?" Kira asked. As soon as she had seen the stage, she had gotten an idea about a gig. If she could get the owner to approve, her and her band just might have a new place to play.

"That would be Haley, the manager." Ethan pointed to the food bar where a young woman in her mid-twenties was talking to someone. She quickly glanced over at Ethan and gave a smile before returning to her conversation. "She's one of the nicest and coolest people you will ever meet. Like I said, she's a MIT grad. A tech legend and a programming genius!"  
>"Good thing for you," Kira said.<p>

Conner came up to blue-dressed man and his yellow-dressed partner from behind. He had wandered off to see what this place was about and decided it was nothing more than a safe-haven for geeks from unwanted bullies.

"I just figured since we're going to be fighting crime and saving the world together, you should know a little bit about me."

"Hey, guys, what can I get you?" The group turned around and saw Haley standing next to them. A smile graced her face as she waited for them to make up their minds.  
>"I'll just have an apple juice," Kira volunteered.<p>

"Kira, right?" Haley asked. "And that's Conner," she said pointing to the teen dressed in all red.

"Yeah, how did you know?" Kira exchanged looks with Conner who seemed a little scared that this stranger knew their names.

"Ethan told me some very special people were meeting up with him here today and said their names were Kira and Conner. When you two walked through the doors, I figured it was you." She walked around to the other side of the bar to get Kira's order. "You sing, don't you?" Haley asked as she poured the drink into a clear cup.

"Yeah, how did you...Ethan." Kira answered her own question as she accepted the juice.

"Right, and just between us girls, he talks about you guys a lot," she said in a whisper. "Anyways, this Friday, why don't you and your band come play here. We'll call it an audition."

Kira stared blankly at the older woman like she had just offered her a record deal. "Oh my god, seriously? I, I mean we, would love to! What time?"

"Does seven work?"

"Um, yeah, that's perfect."

"Good." Haley smiled again and turned to face the two boys. "Do you guys want anything?"

"Just Coke," Ethan said.

"Nothing for me," Conner replied. Once Haley got Ethan his soda, the teens sat down at a nearby table that wasn't surrounded by people. "Okay, look," Conner said. "I don't know about you guys, but Dr. O isn't telling us something and it's getting suspicious. How did he know how to tame the zords and what Zeltrax was going to do? Where did he learn to fight like that and how does he know so much about the Power Rangers?"

"Wait a minute," Kira paused. "Since when did we get on the topic of our, extracurricular activities?"

"Yeah," Ethan agreed, "and why does it matter?"

"Since now and because something isn't right," Conner said. "Don't you guys feel like he's hiding something? If I'm going to do this whole 'Ranger' thing, I need all cards on the table, and right now, Dr. O has some hidden up his sleeve."

"I'm sure Dr. Oliver has some good explanation for not telling us everything. He said he was going to tell us yesterday but then that _freak accident_ happened." Kira looked around the room to make sure nobody was listening in.

"Yeah, and you can see he's bursting with excitement to tell us everything," Conner mocked. He stood up from the table and looked at the other two. "I didn't sign up for this."  
>"None of us did!" Kira said. "If we had been asked, do you think any of us would have?" Conner started to make his way to the door when Kira asked, "Where are you going?"<br>"To Dr. O's to get some answers."

"Hey, Conner!"  
>"What?" he yelled. Seeing it was just Haley, he walked over to the bar to apologize.<br>"It's okay. Things like this always happen." She brushed the incident off of her should like it was no big deal. "Anyways, Ethan told me you were a soccer player. A really good soccer player"  
>"Yeah," Conner said.<p>

"I just wanted to ask you if you knew that the Reefside Waves are in town for try-outs." Haley took a cup and started to wash it. "I think you should go and check it out. They are starting in about thirty minutes," she said, her voice a little louder so he could hear her over the sound of water.

Conner gave a little smile and said, "Thanks, I will." He rushed out of Cyberspace, completely forgetting about his earlier destination.

"You know, I should go, too," Kira said as she watched Conner run out of the cafe. "I have to let the rest of the band know, put a set list together, and then practice like crazy. I'll see you later, Ethan."

Ethan stared at the empty table in front of him before pulling out a laptop. The screen sprang to life once it was awakened and Ethan got started on a new video game he had gotten a couple days ago.

When Haley came by to pick up the left behind cup and Ethan's currently empty one, she sat at the table with him and waited patiently for him to say something. A few minutes went by and it was clear that she was going to have to start the talking. "So," she said, "your friends, they seemed nice."  
>"Yeah, they are when Kira and Conner aren't fighting all the time," he said without pausing his game. Haley didn't mind, after all, she was like that, too. "Conner totally likes Kira, even though he won't admit it. One day when she was attacked by the Tyr—uh, these bullies, she was fighting them all by herself and Conner was about to step in just as she got punched in the face. He walked over and told the bullies to buzz off and bent down to help her up. He took her to the nurse and everything and didn't leave her side until the nurse yelled at him to get out of her office." Ethan froze when he started to say "Tyranndrones" and quickly tried to think of something to cover up his mistake. He sneaked a peak over at Haley to see if she had noticed his slip-up, and was glad when she showed no signs of noticing. At least, that's what he thought.<p>

"Hey Haley, can I get another soda?" someone yelled from across the room.

"Yep, one second!" she called. "Well, duty calls. See you later, Ethan." Glad that she was gone, Ethan returned to his game happy knowing his secret was safe. A beeping sound blared and Ethan looked down at the disguised morpher that was currently a bracelet. He ran off to an isolated corner where he could talk in private and still keep an eye on his stuff.

"Ethan, I need you to meet me at Riverside Road and Wave Street in an hour." The voice of his teacher flowed out of the bracelet as he explained what he had found. "I'm going to need your help."

"What about the others? Do you want me to call them?" Ethan asked.

"I already tried but they said they were busy. I figured if you weren't doing anything, you could help."

"Yeah, of course. Riverside Road and Wave Street in an hour. I'll be there."

* * *

><p>Well, there's chapter 5. I know it's been a week since I last updated, but I've been busy like crazy. First I had to finish all of my school assignments which were a ton. I barely finished them before school started. Good thing I can pull late nights courtesy of writing;) I've had field hockey try-outs for my school and I made varsity:) I'm the only underclassmen this year which is extremely exciting. For those you don't know, I play goalie and last year I broke the JV record for shut-outs (18) and I went to play in tournaments in D.C. and Walt Disney World with a travel league that I had never been apart of until this past winter. Also, my boyfriend is going to study abroad in Vienna for the next five months so I've been spending as much time as I possibly can with him before he leaves on the 28th. I've also been at marching band rehearsals on Tuesdays and Thursdays before our first competition which is coming up at the end of August and the beginning of September. For marching band, I play the tenor saxophone even though I can play the alto and baritone. Props to you if you have any idea what that means! For the concert season, I play the clarinet, for jazz band I play the tenor sax as well, and for pit band I play the bass clarinet and the clarinet. As you can see, I'm really busy in the fall. I also am the Class President at my school so I have to go to meetings and events all of the time so that takes up another good chunk of my day. If you're wondering why I'm telling you all of this stuff, it's because I'm uploading Chapter 6 tonight as well as part of a double-header because I felt bad when I didn't update last week. In Chapter 6, I will be answering your comments per usual. Besides, I felt like it was time you guys got to know me a little bit better since we're all in this ride together. I hope this wasn't too long, and thanks for sticking through with this. Your comments will be answered in Chapter 6.<p>

Until next chapter,  
>Writingaddict169<p> 


	7. Fed Up

Chapter 6: Fed Up

Ethan and Dr. Oliver were wandering around in the forest for a long time without so much as an explanation. Tommy had something in his hand that resembled the top of a metal detector and every so often it would beep. "Not to be rude or anything, but you are really bad when it comes to explaining stuff."

"What do you mean?" Dr. Oliver asked without tearing his eyes away from the screen. "Like in school? You know, you kids really need to speak up if you don't understand something or I'm not explaining it well enough."

"No, no, not school," Ethan said. _Maybe I shouldn't tell him,_ he thought. _Oh, well, what I started, I might as well finish._ "This whole Power Ranger business. You said that you were going to tell us everything we needed to know the day we got the zords, but that changed because, well, we were getting our zords. Then you said you would tell us soon. When exactly is soon?"

"Soon," he answered absently. "Once we find these, we can go home and I'll you and Kira and Conner everything, okay? But right now, this is our main focus."

The duo walked a little farther and the beeps started getting closer and closer together with each passing second. "So, uh, what are we looking for, exactly?"

"Eggs," the teacher said and walked over to a pile of leafs that was glowing various colors. He reached into the pile and started pulling out eggs that were glowing red, blue, and yellow.

"No thanks. Not that I don't want to enjoy the fruit of nature's labor or anything, but I kinda had lunch a couple of hours ago."

Tommy looked up at his student and rolled his eyes. "We're not going to eat them." Ethan sighed with relief. "We're going to hatch them." Out of the corner of his eye, Tommy saw something large and black run between the trees. Quickly putting the eggs into a bag, he swung the bag onto his shoulder as he stood up.

"You saw that, too?" Ethan asked.

Tommy nodded. "No matter what, we have to protect these eggs. Understood?"  
>Ethan gave his teacher a strange look. "Yeah, but who would want to hurt 'em?"<p>

"I would." A lady dressed all in black stepped out from behind a large tree in front of them. She wore all leather, but not in a sexy way like most women dressed in leather.

"And I." Zeltrax stepped out from another tree and looked at Tommy and Ethan disdainfully. His eyes traveled to the bag that contained the eggs, and he made a slight gesture with his head. Tommy felt a hard tug on the bag and lashed out a kick to the attacker's stomach. He threw a blow to the side of its head and watched it fall to the ground. "Tyrannodrones, ATTACK!" Zeltrax screamed as the battle for the eggs began.

With Ethan's non-existent training, Tommy feared they wouldn't be able to hold all of the minions off. If it had been Jase and him, or even _her_ and him, it would have been a piece of cake. Maybe if he was even a little bit younger, he could pull this off. But this was Ethan and Tommy was definitely not getting younger any time soon. He couldn't expect to win without a little more help. "Ethan!" he called over the chaos. "I need you to call Kira and get her over here. I'll call Conner."

"Look, Dr. O, now's really not a good time for a chat." Ethan flipped one Tyrannodrone onto its back quickly followed by another.

"We need help. Call Kira and I'll call Conner."

"No!" Ethan desperately tried to think of an excuse that would change Dr. Oliver's mind. "I'll call Kira. If you're too distracted, the Tyrannodrones might grab the eggs and then where would we be? We just need to hold them off until Kira gets here or we find an opening and run."

"He's the red ranger, he's supposed to be here," Tommy argued. He jumped into the air as two creatures ran towards him and crashed into each other.

"Well, right now, you have the blue ranger and soon enough the yellow one. Trust me, we'll be fine without Conner." Hoping his teacher would believe him, Ethan called Kira, quickly explained the situation, and told her to get down to the forest as fast as humanly possible.

"What about Conner?" she asked.

"Leave him alone. He's at the try-outs and you know how much this means to him. We'll call him only if we need to." Despite how incredibly jerky Conner was, Ethan knew if he was in his shoes, he would be royally pissed that someone ruined his chance of achieving his dreams.

"Ethan, I'm going to call Conner now!" Tommy yelled. He couldn't keep this up much longer, especially since he had restricted arm movement. Isn't it nice to add a challenge on top of another challenge?

* * *

><p>Conner was tearing up the field and thoroughly impressing the coaches. In the middle of a drill, Dr. O called. "Hey, Conner I know this isn't exactly the best time, but we need your help. Ethan and I are in the forest at Riverside Road and Wave Street being attacked."<p>

"I'm on my way." _Crap,_ Conner cursed, _of all the times in the world, it had to be now. _

"Where are you going?" one of the coaches called from the sidelines.  
>"I'm sorry, but I'll be back as soon as I can!" Running towards the forest he muttered, "I am <span>so<span> going to kill him!"

* * *

><p>Ethan stumbled to the ground for what seemed like the hundredth time and cringed as he felt a whole new set of bruises start to form. Waking up tomorrow was going to suck majorly. "I'm tired of this horse play," he said as he struggled to get up. "It's time to get serious. Dino Thunder, power up, Ha!" An instant later, the blue ranger stood ready and gave the first punch of a new battle. However, he didn't see another Tyrannodrone sneaking up from his side who threw him up against a tree. Just as it raised its hand with the sword-looking thing and brought it down, Ethan closed his eyes as he waited quick death, only, it never came. Opening his eyes, he saw two brightly dressed figures standing in front of him with swords of their own blocking the hand.<p>

"About time you guys came," Ethan joked.

"Next time, call a little earlier and you won't say that," Kira shot right back.

"Enough of the chit-chat. We finish this now." Conner started swinging his sword back and forth, hitting anything and everything in his way. He was missing the try-out that could change his life and here he was "saving the world". Honestly, what was he saving right now? The only things here were trees, Ethan, Kira, and Dr. O who was holding his own ground while clutching for dear life onto a bag. As far as he could tell, there weren't any civilians in danger and therefore, they didn't need him. But he was here and he might as well finish what had been started.

As the teens fought the Tyrannodrones, Tommy took on Zeltrax and Elsa, not exactly the most fair match, especially since he was disabled because of the eggs. Elsa had managed to latch on to his collar. He looked her in the eye as he waited for her to lower her weapon onto his neck. At the last possible second, he ducked and rolled out of the way. Elsa stood poised as she held her sword, waiting for Tommy to make the first move. Zeltrax sensed what she was thinking and pushed Tommy to the side, forgetting the reason why they had came here in the first place.

"Elsa, let's go," Zeltrax said. "We will get you later, Power Rangers!" And just like that, he disappeared.

"Um, what just happened?" Ethan asked as soon as they demorphed.

"They retreated and we get to keep the eggs." Tommy quickly checked the bag to make sure none of them had cracked open. This early, the eggs would be no use to them. "We have to take them to the lab and keep them warm until they hatch."

"As exciting as that sounds," Conner said, "I have the try-out of my life that I'm missing, so, can I go?"  
>"Yes, yes, of course," Tommy said. "Good luck!"<p>

* * *

><p>"Hey!" Conner said as he jogged up to the coaches. He noticed practically everyone was gone and anyone left was helping put things away. Getting no word from the coaches, he tried again. "I'm sorry I ran out. I had something really important to take care of."<p>

"And what, pray tell, could be more important than a life-changing event? What could be more important than soccer?" the head coach asked as he walked away, carrying a bag of balls to his car. "Thanks for trying out."

Conner felt the air being sucked out of him and the world stop spinning. No. No, no, no, no, NO! "But, coach, please!" When no one turned to face him, Conner knew that he had blown his chance. Quite possibly the only chance he would have of being discovered. To play in the big leagues. It was over. He tried to move but his feet seemed rooted in the ground as if they weren't moving until the coach realized his mistake and ran back over to tell Conner that he was on the team. But somewhere in his mind, he knew that what the coach had said was not a mistake.

A lonely soccer ball rolled to his feet and a little boy cried out, "Kick it!" Conner looked up and smiled when he say him wearing a Reefside Waves jersey.

He gave a little tap and watched as the little boy trapped it by putting his foot on top of the ball. It wasn't the best way to trap, but he remembered at that age, that that was what the coaches taught you. "Good stop," Conner said encouragingly.

"Thanks!" The little kid smiled at him and ran off to grab his mom's hand. He reminded Conner of himself when he was that age, how eager he was to play soccer and dreaming of playing in the MLS. Now, those dreams were as good as gone unless he played in college. Even then, it would be difficult. Remembering what happened, Conner felt the happiness drain away and he stared at the field for God knows how long.

* * *

><p>"So what exactly did Dr. O say he was going to do with those eggs?" Kira asked. Ethan and her were at Cyberspace waiting for Dr. Oliver to call them back at to the cave. He wasn't sure exactly how long it would take, but he would call them and let them know.<p>

"He wants to hatch them. Not quite sure why and what for, but hey, that's Dr. Oliver for you."

Conner was walking up to the small table with soccer ball in hand. "Hey, how did it go?" Ethan asked, genuinely curious. As much as he hated to admit it, but he was really hoping Conner had done well. Without saying anything, Conner fell into a chair and stared absently at the center of the table.

"No offense, but you look like you've been to hell and back," Kira said. She wasn't trying to offend him, purposelessly, just trying to figure out why the king of the school was looking so bummed.

"It's not going to happen. When Dr. O called me at try-outs, that's when it ended. When I got back, the coach asked me what was more important than soccer, and I said nothing. He just walked off."

"Well, it's not like you didn't have a good excuse," she offered.

"Kira, I just can't walk up to him and hand him a note from Dr. O that says, 'Sorry Conner missed practice today. He was busy saving the world against evil demented dinosaurs that I can't even tell him where they came from even though he's a freaking Power Ranger'!" Each word was getting louder and louder and Ethan and Kira were worried that someone might overhear Conner's rant. He was furious and angry and mad at Dr. Oliver. The man had pulled him away from the most important thing in his life and practically destroyed his chance of making it big. Why couldn't they handle Zeltrax and the creepy lady. As soon as he got there, they got away. It took him longer to get to the battle than to fight it, and it lessened his time at the try-out. Suddenly getting an idea, Conner stood up and made his way to the door.

"Conner, where are you going?" Kira asked.

"I'm going to talk to Dr. O."

"I don't think that's such a good idea," Ethan said. "He said he was going to call us."

"No, see, that's the problem. He's calling the shots and we are just letting him." Conner looked his teammates in the eyes and said, "He never answers a single question and leaves us in the dark all the time. He contacts us when there's trouble, not for a cup of coffee or a meeting or a nice conversation about how our day went. I'm going to talk to Dr. Oliver whether or not he likes it. You guys can come or stay here, it doesn't make a difference to me. I'm going and there's nothing you can do about it." Pushing the door out of his way, he stalked off to his parked mustang and climbed in.

"Are you coming?" He called as he started the engine. Ethan and Kira looked at each other before dashing off to the car and grabbing a seat.

* * *

><p>Well, there you have it folks. The sixth chapter in this story. I hope it was worth the wait, and again, I'm sorry this took so long to get the two chapters out. I promise no more delays unless there is a really good excuse, and I promise it'll still be the quality of writing (if not, better) that you have been reading for the past couple of weeks. Now, I know how anxious you guys are so I'll cut to the chase: COMMENTS TIME!<p>

oldtvlover- Thanks!

MaxKnight1010101- I'm glad:) For me, it's quite the opposite. If I reread my work, I wonder how people enjoy it. Personally, I don't think I am a very good writer so when I receive compliments on how well I write, I am actually very shocked. Thank you very much:) I am trying to stick as close as I can to the actual show, but making it a little more mature and adding twists here in there. Hence, Twist in Time. Not really, but it keeps you wondering what's going to happen in future chapters.

fallingstar22-Thanks!

BellaVision- Thanks! Like I said to MaxKnight, I'm trying to keep it close to the show, but still making it my own and twisting it a little bit, like you asked.

YellowPrincess- Thanks! Like I've apologized about a million times, I'm sorry it's been about a week or two. If you wish to read my full explanation, look at the bottom of Chapter Five and it will be right there for you to read.

Well, that's it for now. Please comment, criticize, give me ideas and suggestions, flames, anything, and I will take it. Not only is this story for BellaVision, but it's also for everyone else and I really want to know what you guys thinks. Suggest it to your friends who aren't even on FanFic if they like Power Rangers or just plain like reading. Also, for those of you who don't have an FFN account, you can just leave a comment and come up with some random name for yourself. Yes, I am that desperate that I am willing to take comments from complete strangers:P Not really desperate, but I think you know what I mean.

Until next chapter,  
>Writingaddict169<p> 


	8. Realization

Chapter 7: Realization

Tommy gently placed the eggs inside the incubator and turned on the lamp. They were already starting to shake and one even had a crack in it. Tommy turned to his computer and waited for the diagnosis to finish. In the meantime, he was going to run a scan of the city and its borders for any strange energy signal. Recently, there had been three different signal that had been showing up on the screen randomly, but they always disappeared before the scanner could get a lock on them. Tommy thought he had finally caught them until the scanner had found the same three energy readings. This time, one was completely on its own and the other two were moving closer together on the opposite side of town. In the next second, all three were gone once more._ Unless I can find a pattern, I'm never going to find out what they are _Tommy thought. They was nothing like the signatures for the gems or the eggs, they were much stronger.

_CRACK!_ _CRACK! CRACK! _The sound resounded throughout the hallow cave and Tommy turned to the incubator. All three eggs had a large crack in them and Tommy could see a claw trying to escape from one. He raised his comm up to his mouth and pressed a button off to the side. One that wouldn't alert the rangers, but his "sidekick".

"Hey, H, they're hatching."  
>"Okay, I'm on my way."<p>

A silent alarm on the security monitor went off. "Hang on, I've got some unexpected guests. I'll call you later."

Tommy quickly checked on the eggs to make sure they'd be safe before making his way to exit the cave. He walked up the hidden staircase and right into his living room just as the doorbell rang. He hurried over to the door and opened it, revealing three teenagers.

"Dr. Oliver, we need to talk."

Ethan sat on a chair while Kira and Conner took the couch. Conner looked straight at Tommy, determination set, waiting for the right moment to start talking. Kira and Ethan just stared at the ground as if they were afraid of what he had to say and how well this was going to go.

"Well, what can I help you guys with?" Tommy asked. "I'm kinda busy right now and I need to get back to work."  
>"You know, that's the thing. You're always busy. Well guess what Dr. O, you're not the only one." Tommy mentally took a step back at the harsh tone of Conner's voice. Both men held their gaze, not wanting to give in and seem like the weaker of the two.<p>

"Look, Conner, I understand that you three have extracurricular activities beside being a ranger, I was the same way in high school."

"Good, so you know how I, I mean, we feel." Conner looked at his teammates who were still looking at the ground as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. They hadn't said a word since they left Cyberspace.

"Of course," Tommy said with a smile. If this what this was all about, then maybe this wasn't going to be so bad.

"Good, because I want out."

"What?" Tommy's mood changed instantly as he stared at the red ranger, all the good feelings gone. "You want to quit?"

"Yeah," Conner said as he still looked head-on at his teacher. "Look, I can't do this, Dr. O. Because of this 'Power Ranger' business, I missed the try-out of my life! And it's only going to get worse as I go along. I'd been training for that moment my entire life. That moment where I get asked to play pro soccer. And when that opportunity came along, I blew it off because some crazy freaks of nature wanted three stupid eggs that we still don't know what they are!"

"Conner, listen. I know what it's like trying to balance everything out between school, family, friends, and sports. High school is one of the most busiest times of your life and learning how to balance everything is like a juggling act. With a little organization and help from Kira and Ethan, it will work out fine. You are not in this alone." _I am not going to lose another red ranger,_ he thought. _If I have to force Conner, I will. _

"I didn't come here for comfort, Dr. Oliver!" Conner stood up and took a step closer to his teacher. "I came here to tell you, I quit!"

"Well, you can't!" Tommy yelled back. He didn't care if he had to tie Conner down until he changed his mind again, he was the Red Ranger and there was no going back."The gem chose you and there's nothing you can do about it!"

"Oh, really? Watch me." Conner undid the clasp on the watch and threw it onto the ground right in front of Tommy's feet. He stalked off to the door before telling Ethan and Kira, "If you aren't in the car by the time the engine starts, I'm leaving without you."

Looking torn between making a choice, Ethan dashed out the door leaving Kira the duty of talking to Dr. Oliver. Conner would never leave without her, but right now, she wasn't going to take any chances.

"I have to make this quick. Ethan and I aren't quitting on you like Conner is. We're still in this. Give Conner some time and space to let him clear his head. He'll come around." With a sad smile on her face, she left and seconds later the sound of a car peeling out of the driveway filled the quiet house.

"H, you can come over now. They left," Tommy said, emotionless into his communicator.

* * *

><p>Conner pulled up into Kira's driveway and stopped the engine. He had already dropped off Ethan and now it was Kira's turn. Maybe he could go to the field and work off some of his anger before dinner. "Well, here you are," he said awkwardly.<p>

"Yup, this is it," Kira agreed as she stared at her house, not wanting to go in quite just yet. She turned to face the boy in red. "Conner, can we talk?"  
>"Wait, I know what you're going to say," Conner said, putting his hand up to stop her. "You were wrong about your feelings towards me and you were hoping we could go out sometimes. Well, I accept."<br>"Um, yeah, definitely not what I was going to say," Kira admitted. "I wanted to talk to you about quitting...the team."  
>"Oh, yeah, I knew that." Conner felt his cheeks getting warm and turned away so Kira wouldn't see. "I just wanted to say that I—"<p>

"Don't worry about it," Kira said, brushing off the comment. She let silence settle into the car before starting. "Conner, I really think you're making a mistake. About quitting. I know my opinion doesn't really matter to you, but just listen. You're the captain of your soccer team right? Well, think of being the red ranger as the captain of the Power Rangers. Instead of scoring goals and winning games, you're defeating bad guys and saving the world. Think about it Conner. On one hand, Ethan and I need you as the red ranger, and so does the rest of the world. On the other, your soccer team needs you. For me, it's a no-brainer. You, it's a different matter."

"You have no idea," he muttered.

"I don't. But my situation is a little different than your's and Ethan's. Just don't forget Conner, you aren't in this alone. Ethan and I are in the same boat, and we're here for you." Kira climbed out of the car and walked around to Conner's side of the mustang. "Seriously think about what you want to do, Conner. There's still time to change your mind. Just remember, there will be other opportunities to play in the major league, but there may not be if the world is destroyed."

"Guys, I've got a situation downtown. A monster is attacking and I need you to get down there." Dr. Oliver's voice floated over the Kira's comm unit. "I'm sending the coordinates now."

"Thanks Dr. O. Kira and I will be right there," Conner responded into Kira's watch.

"I thought you quit?" Kira asked.

"Well, one last fight might do me some good," he said with the trademark McKnight smile on his lips. Kira ran back to the passenger side and jumped in.  
>"Come on, we have to go get Ethan."<p>

* * *

><p>"What are these things?" Kira yelled. She was riding on top of some type of motorcycle that was shaped like a dinosaur. The buildings flew by as she tried to keep pace with Conner and Ethan, desperate not to be last like last time when they were being chased in the forest.<p>

"These are your raptor riders. They top out at one hundred and fifty miles per hour. You should be able to catch anything on the run. Turn left and the monster should be fifty meters in front of you. Be careful."

"Wouldn't dream of being anything else," Conner muttered. Conner turned the corner and felt his heart drop. A Tyrannodrone was advancing towards the little boy he had seen earlier at the soccer field. "I'll get the boy; Kira, you follow and Ethan distract that creepy thing that we've been chasing. Kira and I will join you when we can."

"On it," Kira said as she dived into the rescue mission seconds after Conner.

"You better hurry up, 'cause I'm not sure how long I can distract it," Ethan warned.

"Dr. O, take the reins," Conner ordered into his mike. As soon as he was in range, he leaped off of the motorcycle and landed a solid kick in the Tyrannodrone's stomach. It flew backwards while taking another one down with it. A tall man ran over to Conner and picked up his son.

"Thank you," he whispered as he looked at Conner. "I don't know what I would have done without him."

"You're welcome," Conner said, "now, get out of here before either of you gets hurt." The boy's father nodded and dashed off with his son in his arms.

"Conner, behind you!" Kira screamed. He turned around and easily fended off the attacker with a simple punch to the face and a kick to the chest. How his leg was able to get up that high, he would never know. _It must be the suit, _he thought. Conner glanced over at Kira to give her a smile, though she would never see it, and jumped over her head as he scissor-kicked two Tyrannodrones that had been sneaking up on the yellow ranger. "Thanks," Kira whispered.

"Anytime," Conner whispered back.

Out of nowhere came the blue ranger running past the others. "Uh, guys, sorry to break up the love fest, but I don't think I can keep Cactus Man over there distracted much longer."  
>"We're not having a love fest!" Conner and Kira argued.<p>

"And I'm not a Power Ranger," Ethan said.

"Is that the best you can do?" the Cactus Man, as Ethan had named him, mocked. "The best that the Power Rangers can do is to send me their blue ranger who doesn't even attack me? You aren't the Power Rangers, you are nothing but impostors and I will tear you limb from limb until the real Rangers get here."

"Did he just call us impostors?" Kira asked, bewilderment laced in her voice. "Because there is nothing in this world that I hate more than being called a wannabe."

"Well, what are you going to do about it?" Cactus Man taunted.

"This. Ptera Grips!" Kira yelled. She pulled out the two dagger-like weapons and slashed at the monster with all of her strength. Sparks erupted from the monster's chest where the Ptera Grips had dug into the skin.

Not wanting to let Kira take all of the glory, Conner pulled out his Tyranno Staff and used the pointed edge to slash Cactus Man in the same spot as Kira. The monster reeled back, and sparks flew from the blow Conner had delivered. Ethan came up from behind Conner and watched the energy orbs fly from his Tricera Shield and hit Cactus Man. It fell to the ground and laid still.

"Hell yes!" Conner yelled. He was tired, sweaty, and hungry, but damn, did it feel good to defeat a bad guy and save Reefside.

"Hey, Dr. O, we finished off Cactus Man. What do we do with him?" Conner heard Ethan say to their teacher.

"Um, guys," Kira said. "I don't think we're done quite just yet."  
>"Why do you say that?" Ethan asked. Kira merely pointed and he followed her line of vision. "Oh."<p>

"Let me guess," Dr. Oliver said, "the monster you guys were just fighting has now turned into a thirty-story version of itself and you're going to ask me how you fight it."

"You've done this before, haven't you?" Ethan asked.

"Uh, no," Tommy lied, "I've, uh, watched the news and know how these battles go."

"You mean there's been other rangers?" Kira asked, intruding on the guys' conversation.

"Um, yes, but now is not the time to talk about that. I'm sending your zords...now."

"Zords?" Kira asked.

"You'll see what I mean in a second. When they get there, and trust me, you'll know, press the center of your box and you will be transported to your zord. From there, you will combine all of the zords by pressing the multi-colored button on the left hand side of your console. Once everything is locked in place, you can start fighting. I put a little cheat sheet in there since you guys don't know how to work everything yet." Tommy looked at a screen off to his right. "The zords should be there right now. You guys know what to do. If you need any help, let me know."  
>"Thanks, but I think we can handle it," Conner said as he pushed the center of his belt and transported to his zord. One minute he was standing on the ground and the next he was sitting in a chair with a console in front of him just like Dr. O had said.<p>

"These things are amazing!" Ethan cried. "The technology, there's nothing else like it."

"I have to admit, these are pretty cool, but can we get on with this fight? This spandex is starting to stick to my body," Kira said.

"I don't see the problem," Conner muttered, knowing she would hear him.

"What did you say?" she asked.

"Nothing," he said innocently.

"You guys can flirt later," Ethan said, "just press the multi-colored button like Dr. O told us to and let's kick some Cactus butt!"

Once the monster was defeated and left the scene of the crime as soon as the fight was over, the Power Rangers transported back to the ground as their zords left to go back in hiding, wherever that was.

"Hey, Conner, I think you have a fan," Kira said softly as she pointed behind her leader. Conner turned and saw the little boy from earlier that day and who he rescued from a Tyrannodrone standing there with his father. He ran to the Red Ranger who stooped down and gave him a hug.

"Thank you," the little boy whispered.

"Anytime," Conner whispered back as he tightened the hug. "Anytime."

* * *

><p>Hey guys! Wow, has it been a long first week of school. Raise your hands if you've gone back to school already. *Looks around* Pretty impressive. How many of you have yet to complete your first day? *Becomes jealous of those who are raising their hands* Yeah, I'm pretty jealous. It's been a rough week, but at least it's preparing me for the rest of the year and beyond, right? So, what have you guys been up to? Starting school or have you been busy working all year long? Leave your comment in the review section:) Um, what else... Oh, I had my first varsity game today for field hockey and we won 3-1 and on Friday we have our first football game I'm playingperforming at courtesy of my involvement in the band! Just a little tidbit, if my author's corner as I'm now calling this space is pretty depressing starting next week until the beginning of January, my boyfriend is leaving to go study abroad in Vienna and it's kind of hitting me hard, so I'm just warning you all if I don't quite sound like myself. I'm extremely happy for him and really excited that he gets an opportunity to do something like this, but I just wish it wasn't so long, you know? Anyways, COMMENTS TIME!

fallingstar22-Thanks! I hope this was what you were looking for!

oldtvlover-Thanks. I will be doing back-to-back chapters every now and then because of my busy schedule and holidays and whatnot so you guys (the readers), can at least read one chapter one week and then wait a week to read the other one. Or read them both at the same time, if your heart truly oh-so-desires;)

MaxKnight1010101-I'm glad!:) Thanks, as always, and like I've said before, I'm making the show my own without actually owning it because I (disclaimer) don't own anything having to do with Power Rangers or Disney or Saban. Just saying. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with Kira, so if you have any ideas, please let me know! Ah, a fellow clarinetist! It's so nice to find another one in the family:)

FrostyTheBookLover-Haha, neither can I...

BellaVision-Thanks:)

YellowPrincess-Thanks:) In case you haven't noticed, I'm updating this story every Tuesday unless i have some type of really good excuse or I make it up to you guys by updating a two-fer the following week. If i decide to go absolutely crazy one day and write way more chapters than I usually do, then of course I'll update them on whatever day it is. But until then, Tuesdays are now your FanFic days;)

Well, that's all I have for you guys now. Please leave a comment, review, critique, concern, question, anything by clicking on the box down below and I will answer it here on my Author's Corner next week.

Until next chapter,  
>Writingaddict169<p> 


	9. The First Concert&The Second Kidnapping

Chapter Eight: The First Concert and the Second Kidnapping

"It's good to have you back on the team, Conner," Kira said as she sat down.

"Yeah, man," Ethan agreed. "I don't know what we would've done if you decided to quit."

"I'm sure Dr. O would have found someone. I mean, how many people wouldn't want to a," Conner lowered his voice, "Power Ranger?"

"Well, in any case we're all glad you decided to come back," Ethan said.

"Although, I'm sorry you had to turn down that chance to play from the Reefside Waves," Kira said. "I know that if I had that kind of chance, I would go for it. What made you change your mind?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "Maybe it saving those people and knowing that if I hadn't been there, they wouldn't be here right now. Save the world or run around on a field not making a difference."

"Are you sure you can handle not getting all the credit?" Kira asked, only half joking.

Conner thought for a minute. "Yeah. Besides, I have you two and Dr. O to praise me all day long!"

"Hey, do any of you know what time it is?" Kira asked suddenly.

"Yeah, it's a quarter till seven," Conner answered. "Aren't you playing tonight?"

"That's why I asked, Einstein," she said jokingly. "I have to go and warm-up. I'll see you guys on stage!"

"Good luck!" both boys cried out as their teammate ran off to the back of Cyberspace.

"Okay, why are you really staying?" Ethan asked as soon as Kira was out of range. "I don't believe that whole 'save the world or playing soccer' story you fed to Kira."

"Well, that's the truth so you're just going to have to live with it," Conner said.

"Fine, if that's the truth, I want the whole truth."  
>"You just heard it."<br>Ethan sighed, frustrated that Conner wouldn't just admit that he stayed partly because of Kira. It really wasn't obvious, per say, but nobody argued like they did if they didn't like each other. "Conner, I know you like Kira."

"Wha-what? You think I like Kira?" He laughed for a few seconds before he stared at Ethan. "I don't like Kira, okay? She isn't my type. I like girls who wear make-up and skimpy clothes and are great kissers! Kira isn't any of those things. She barely wears any make-up, she covers up all the time, and she doesn't seem like the kind of girl who would just kiss anyone." He watched the said girl for a few minutes before he returned his gaze to Ethan. "Besides, even if I did like her, which I don't, she wouldn't like me in a million years."

"Do you know that for a fact?" Ethan asked.

"Yes."  
>"How?"<br>"Well, she hates me, and um, makes fun of me, and uh, she uh, thinks I'm stupid, and—"

Ethan laughed. "Okay, okay. No need to hurt your pretty little brain, eh?"

Conner ignored the comment and checked his watch and saw that there were five minutes until the show started. Cyberspace was filling up quickly and Haley was running around, trying to take everyone's orders. When she stopped by the boys' table, she said, "I really need some hired help."

"Do you want us to help you out now?" Conner asked hopefully, knowing that it would be his escape from Ethan's questioning.

"Oh, no, I think I've got it now," she said, crushing Conner's hopes. "Kira's about to start so people should be good for a while. Besides, you guys came here to support your friend, not to help me out. Enjoy the show!" She was gone in a blink of an eye.

"How does she do that?" Conner asked.

Ethan shrugged. "Magic of the geek."

"Hey guys," a voice said behind them. Both guys turned and saw their science teacher standing before them. "Is this seat taken?"

"Now it is," Ethan said. "What are you doing here?"

"I know how important this is to Kira, so I decided to stop by," he admitted. "I was hoping you guys would be here, too. I wanted to say thank you for doing what you're doing. I know how hard it is to balance everything out when you are in high school and when you do the job that you two and Kira do, it's even harder." Conner and Ethan both knew what he was talking about and were sure that if they were alone, he would have said "Power Rangers" multiple times.

"Pretty soon, it's going to become even harder for you to keep your secret identities. People are going to start questioning where you are running off to all the time and why you don't hang out with your friends anymore. And as Conner already knows, sometimes you have to give up something or skip a really important audition in order to do your job." Tommy looked at Conner with an apologetic look on his face. "Conner, I am really sorry that you had to miss your try-out for it. I wish there was something I could do. I know how important soccer is to you, and I want to support you three better than anyone did for me." He took a deep breath to prevent a tear from escaping as he thought back to his mentor. "So, Conner, I've thought it over and I've decided that if you want to quit, I will respect your choice and let you do it. I can always find someone to replace you, but it just won't be the same."

Ethan looked at Conner, his eyes asking, _You haven't told him yet?_ Conner just shrugged and turned back to his teacher.

"Uh, Dr. O, I really appreciate it, but I want to stay with the team. After today, saving that little boy and all, it made me realize that there's more to life than just playing soccer. It's like I told Kira and Ethan earlier, I'd rather make a difference in the world than running around on the soccer field." Conner saw a small smile form on his teacher's face as he said that he would be staying.

"And because he likes Kira," Ethan loudly whispered to his teacher. Conner punched the blue ranger in the arm. "Ow! What was that for!"  
>"For telling Dr. O a lie!"<p>

"I don't tell lies, only truths," Ethan defended.

"Well, you just did!"

"Okay, okay," Tommy said with a laugh, "Conner doesn't like Kira. I get it. Now hush up, she's coming on stage."

"Ladies and gentleman," Haley said from on top of the stage, "we have something special for you all tonight. She speaks her mind and has a lot to say; give it up for Kira Ford!"

Kira took over the microphone and looked over at the table where two Power Rangers and their mentor sat. To Conner, she looked intimidated and almost unsure of herself, something he thought that he would never see on her face. She took a breath and looked right at Conner as she started to speak. "Good evening. I just wanted to say thank you for coming out here tonight. We have quite a line-up for you guys and we hope you enjoy it. The first song of the night is called 'Freak You Out'."

Immediately the sounds of the guitar came alive and pretty soon the entire store was rocking out. By the time the chorus arrived, she started to look more confident than at the beginning and even started to smile. She kept looking at Conner whenever she felt unsure and he always held her gaze with the trademark McKnight smile. As the show kept going, Kira didn't look at Conner as much as she had in the beginning, but every once in a while she would and she could tell that he was enjoying the show. Ethan and he kept nodding their heads and Dr. O would tap his finger on the table in time with the song.

An hour passed by way to quickly and pretty soon Kira strummed the last note of the last song for the night. When the note faded away, she looked up from her guitar and saw the audience going crazy. When the noise finally settled down, she cleared her throat and walked back up to the mic. "I just wanted to thank each and every one of you guys for showing up to our gig tonight. It really means a lot to us and there aren't enough words that describe how we're feeling right now. Please come up to one of us and talk if you like, we always like talking to the fans and getting their input, and quite possibly, making some new friends. Thanks again you guys, and we can't wait to see you next time!"

Kira climbed down from the stage and fought her way through the throng of people to make it to the table where her friends were sitting.

"Kira, that was amazing!" Conner said as he wrapped the yellow ranger in a hug. He let go of her as he ignored the strange look from the other two.

"Uh, thanks Conner," she said with a laugh, hoping not to make him feel awkward about the hug.

"Yeah, man, you were great!" Ethan said from his chair. "I would hug you, but I think super jock did enough hugging for us both." Conner punched his arm again.

"Kira, you were great," Dr. Oliver said. "In fact, your voice sounds like someone I knew back in high school."  
>"Really? Who?" she asked.<p>

"Ah, you wouldn't know her," he said, brushing off the question. Tommy stood up from the table and pushed in his chair. "Well, I need to get going. I have to grade some papers tomorrow morning and make your pop quiz for Monday morning."  
>"We're having a pop quiz?" Conner asked. "But we haven't learned anything pop quiz worthy!"<br>"That's what you think," his teacher said with a smirk. "If I were you, I'd study this weekend. Oh, and be at my house tomorrow at eight. We have some, uh, business to attend to." As Tommy left the building, Conner sighed.

"A pop quiz and having to wake up early on a Saturday morning. How much more cruel can life be?"

"Trust me, it could be worse," Ethan said. "Like you could break both your legs and never be able to play soccer ever again."  
>"Thanks for that uplifting thought, Ethan," Conner muttered.<br>"Hey, you asked, I answered."  
>"I was asking a rhetorical question. Even I know that."<br>"Well, lucky for you, I answer rhetorical questions." Ethan gave a little smirk as Conner rolled his eyes.

Tommy walked out of Cyberspace and started to walk fast. He really did have papers to grade tomorrow. As for the pop quiz, eh, not so much. He just told that to them for kicks. Conner had been right, he hadn't taught enough for there to be a quiz, much less a pop quiz.

Getting the feeling that somebody was watching him, Tommy picked up his pace to a light jog. He would have parked closer, but all of the kids had taken all of the closet spots when he had gotten there. Tommy stopped and looked around to see if anyone was still following him. _Nothing but parked cars,_ he thought. _Get a hold of yourself, Oliver. You're losing your touch. Grading papers can wait, you are training tomorrow._ Still feeling like somebody was following him, Tommy decided to walk and wait for the person to attack him. Whoever it was, he could take them on. Feeling a light tug on his shirt, Tommy whipped around to see a Tyrannodrone standing in front of him. Before he could raise a fist, something hard struck the back of his head and Tommy fell into darkness.

* * *

><p>Hey guys! Sorry that it's been so long. So much has been going on lately that I can't get the thoughts in my head straightened out. I'm really busy and don't have time to upload the new chapters during the week except on weekends. I know that this isn't my usual Tuesday posting, but I won't be getting back home until late every night this week. Field hockey and band are taking up a lot of my time right now which is why i haven't been able to write anything or update the story. So, as a result, I'm not going to be updating this story until the middle of October when field hockey is over with and I have more time to write. I know, I know, I'm sad about it, too, but I have no other choice. Besides, when I come back, I will (hopefully) have more chapters done for you guys that are (hopefully) better than they have been. Thanks for understanding! :) COMMENTS TIME!<p>

MaxKnight1010101-Thanks! And I wish I was on vacation. That would be fantastic for me right now.

oldtvlover-Thanks!

BellaVision-Thanks and I definitely will when once FH is over.

YellowPrincess-Thanks! Conner and Tommy are two of my favorite characters ever, so naturally I have to make them cute:) Sorry this one is throwing you a curve ball, but uploading days will return to Tuesdays:)

fallingstar22-Thanks and good luck with your studying, too! Looks like we'll be in this together;) I'm really hoping it does but these past three weeks have been dragging on for ever:-/

Well, that's it for now. Like I said, sorry for the lack of updating. School just takes everything I own and consumes it for its own self. Expect weekly updates every Tuesday starting in the middle of October and have a good rest of the first half of fall if I don't talk to ya'll soon!

Until the next chapter,  
>Writingaddict169<p> 


	10. The History and The Search

Chapter 9: The History and The Search

Tommy woke up with a splitting headache and the back of his head hurt like someone had hit him with a ton of bricks. He tried to move his arms, but found them tied down to the table he was lying on. He looked around groggily, trying to figure out where he was and how he could get out. The room he was in looked like a science lab and he was the experiment.  
>"Good, you're awake. My master wishes to see you. Grab him!"<p>

A small army of Tyrannodrones appeared out of nowhere and undid the restraints on Tommy's limbs. Two for each arm grabbed on and started dragging him out of the room and down a series of hallways so confusing that if he tried to escape, he would be lost. Finally, the group stopped in front of a door that slid open when the "leader" punched in the code. Throwing Tommy inside the room, the Tyrannodrones quickly followed as the door shut behind them.

"Finally. Put him in the Life-Force Extractor," a raspy voice order.

As he was being dragged, Tommy saw Mesogog, the Tyrannodrones "master" and the arch enemy of the Dino Rangers. "What do you want with me?" Tommy asked, fighting the minions.

"My sources tell me inside this crystal is a gem that only certain people can release. Despite my efforts, the crystal doesn't even have a scratch on it. I've taken the liberty to see who could possibly release the gem for me. And that someone is you, Thomas Oliver. You and only you can release the gem so that it may do my bidding." Mesogog stopped pacing and stopped right in front of Tommy. "The only way I can get it is if I take away your very own soul and use it to get the gem. Besides, you are an expert when it comes to dealing with such strange things such as this."

"Sorry, I can't help you there," Tommy said. "I'm just a high school science teacher. The only strange things I've seen are dinosaur bones."

"Really? Just a teacher?" Mesogog leaned in so close that Tommy could feel its hot breath on his skin and its rancid breath filled his nose. He forced himself not to gag, fearing that that would cause his situation to worse. "Thomas, I know your secrets, every deepest, darkest secret you've ever possessed. I know about your past, I know things you don't even know yourself. Believe me when I say that you are not just a high school science teacher." He took a couple steps back from Tommy and resumed pacing in front of him. "I know that you have three brats who are the new Power Rangers and you know what the gem inside that crystal does. I need it out and I need it out now. Turn on the machine!"

* * *

><p>"Where is he?" Kira asked, growing impatient by the minute. "Dr. O said to be here at eight and we are."<p>

"Yeah, this totally reminds me of level forty-three in the video game, 'Space Ninja Warriors'. The princess of Yugonu is missing and you have to go find her in the hidden passageways of the palace looking for her because the rebel leader Mosogeg has her locked away on a hidden island in the middle of the ocean," Ethan chimed in.

"Wait, what?" Conner asked, confused by Ethan's explanation. Giving up, he shook his head. "Never mind. Look, don't you guys think you are a little too paranoid about this?"

"A little?" Kira asked. "Dr. O hasn't been late to anything since we've known him. He's probably been that way since he was born. He would have been here at eight on the dot and if he was out running errands or something, wouldn't he have left a note or something? It doesn't seem like him to just ditch without warning."

"Kira's got a point," agreed Ethan. "Maybe we should look for him."  
>"He's probably sleeping," Conner reasoned. "It's about a twenty minute drive from Cyberspace to his house. Give or take fifteen minutes for him to get ready for bed, and by that point, it's nine forty-five at night and the poor guy is exhausted. It's way past his bed time so he decides to sleep in for an extra hour or two to make up for lost time. The elderly need their sleep, too, you know."<p>

"Conner," Kira said, "Dr. O isn't as old as your grandmother. Now, I'm taking a shot in the dark here, but I'm pretty sure he can handle staying up past ten. He used to work at a college for God's sake!"

"Conner, if your theory is correct," Ethan said, "then we can go wake him up and do whatever he has planned for us. If he's not in the house, then we can start worrying. Sound good?"

Conner nodded his head and led the other two up the stairs to find their teacher's bedroom.

* * *

><p>"This is bad," Kira muttered. "This is so so so bad."<p>

"Relax, maybe he went out for a jog," Conner said.

"Where? There's no path and any person in their right mind wouldn't go in that forest without a gun and a flashlight and a cell phone," Ethan argued. "I don't know about you, but I don't think Dr. O is completely insane."

"Well, maybe we missed a note or something," Conner fought. He started to pace around the small cave trying to think of other possibilities other than just vanishing. "Check his computer and see if you can find anything. Maybe there's something on there. After all, he knows you're a computer genius."

"There's only one way to find out," Ethan said as he walked over to the computer. Pressing a couple of buttons, he hacked the password and soon a video with Dr. Oliver appeared on screen.

"What's this?" Conner asked.

"A video," Ethan said.

"Thanks, geek," Conner sneered.

"You two, stop," Kira ordered. "It's about to start."

"I'm Tommy Oliver. If you're not me, then something is seriously wrong." Tommy's voice filled the room and a serious look filled his face. The three teens looked over at each other with expressions wondering the same thing. _What is he talking about?_ "This video diary is confidential and can only be viewed in an emergency. If this diary falls into the wrong hands, everything I and so many others have worked so hard to do, will be all for nothing and could danger the lives of a hundred very important people and, quite possibly, the world."

Not being able to take it any more, Kira reached over and hit the space bar to pause this video. "Okay, time out. What the hell is he talking about?"  
>"Important people's lives and the world could be in danger if this falls into the wrong hands," Conner stated. "I thought for sure you would have gotten it if I had."<br>"No, smart ass, I know that part," she retorted. "But what exactly is he talking about? Important people could be in danger? Who are they and why are they so important?"  
>"Maybe he's talking about world leaders or something," Ethan offered. "Throughout the world, they're considered important."<br>"Well, we're not going to find out by sitting here and asking ourselves questions," Conner said. "Play the video."

"Okay, okay, take a chill pill," grumbled Ethan. He hit the space bar and the video resumed.

"This video is about my past," Tommy said.

"Great, stories about dinosaur bones and 'crazy' college days," Conner yawned.

"This video is about my past as a Power Ranger." Conner reached over and hit the space bar again.  
>"Okay, what is it now, jock boy?" Kira asked.<p>

"Um, did you not just hear what Dr. O just said?" Conner shrieked. "He was a fucking Power Ranger! Like us! Do you have any idea how much this, this guy is hiding from us? He didn't think it was important to tell us that he was once a Power Ranger, too?"  
>"Conner, relax," Ethan soothed. "I'm sure he was going to tell us when he was going to explain everything to us. In case you haven't noticed, we haven't exactly had the right time to sit down and talk about this."<p>

"Oh yeah, because Dr. O was going to pull out a plate of warm chocolate chips cookies and some milk while we discussed dinosaurs and he would casually just say, 'By the way, I used to be a Power Ranger'! I'm pretty sure it doesn't work like that."

"Can we discuss this later?" Kira groaned. "I want to know what else he has to say. He made this video for a reason and I think we need to see it. We can chat about all of our different theories over coffee later." She pressed the space bar and watched with the guys as their teacher's story unfolded.

* * *

><p>He wasn't sure exactly how long the video was, but it didn't matter. He had just found out that his teacher was a Power Ranger. Ethan spun around in his chair and watched his cohorts as their brains absorbed the last given information. Their science teacher was a Power Ranger, an ex-Power Ranger, but a Power Ranger none the less.<p>

"Our teacher is the oldest living Power Ranger," Conner whispered, "and he didn't even bother to tell us. He knows some of the most famous people on the planet, and he didn't even think about telling us. He knows so much more than he letting on and he didn't even hint to us that he knew."  
>"For the record, he isn't the oldest living Power Ranger, just the best." The three teens whipped around only to find Haley standing in front of them with her arms crossed in front of her chest.<p>

"What are you doing here?" Conner asked.

"The better question is, what are you doing here," she echoed. "Not only are you trespassing, but you're in a teacher's home. If I didn't know Tommy and if I didn't know that he wasn't here right now, the police would have been here by now to pick up you three and perhaps Tommy, too."

"To answer your question, we're here because Dr. Oliver told us to meet him at his house at eight for training," Kira answered.

"And when she says training, she really means tutoring," Ethan said, hoping Haley wouldn't notice the slip up. "Man, Dr. O is just slamming us with information, it's hard to keep track."  
>"It's been the first week of school, I highly doubt Tommy would give you any homework within the first week. It' not his style," Haley retorted. "Now, tell me why you are really here."<p>

"It's like Kira said," Conner confessed, "we're here for training. Like, fighting training."

"So you three are the new generation, huh?" Haley pondered. "I should have known. It's the same with every group."  
>"What do you mean?" Kira asked.<p>

"In every generation of Power Rangers, the rangers wear their respective colors in their civilian clothing," Haley explained. "You three are no different."  
>"Power Rangers?" Conner sputtered. "You think we're the Power Rangers? As if. I wouldn't spend any more time than needed with these two."<br>"Conner, drop the act," Kira said. "She knows."  
>"What act? Ouch!" He rubbed the back of his head where Kira had slapped him. "What was that for?"<br>"For being such an idiot." Kira turned to face Haley once more. "Do you have any idea where he might be? We've tried everything."  
>"So you've tried the GPS locater in his belt? I'm impressed."<br>"What GPS locater?" the trio asked.

"So you haven't tried everything," Haley mused with a smile. She stalked over to the computer chair where Ethan was sitting and pushed him out of it. She began typing quickly, trying to find the locater on Tommy's belt."Who do you think designed all of your gear with the latest in technology? Tommy? As if! It's one thing to go to MIT, but it's a completely different thing to get a degree in paleontology at MIT."

"Wait, so you built our morphers and our zords?" Ethan asked, trying to get things straightened out in his head.  
>"Not the zords, no. That was Tommy and Anton's job. I just built the morphers and the weapons." Haley continued to type, her hands flying across the keyboard as she looked for the signal. "I've got a lock on Tommy. He's on an island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. I'm sending the coordinates to your new Raptor Cycles. There's an invisportal nearby that'll take you straight to the island fortress."<br>"Wait, Dr. O is on an island?" Conner asked nervously. "And islands are surrounded by water, right?"

"Generally," Kira said.

"Maybe we should call the past Rangers and see if they can come and help out," Conner suggested. "I mean, they must want to help a fellow Ranger out, right?"  
>"Conner, it's not that simple," Haley said. "Most Rangers don't have their powers anymore, and the only person who would know how to contact them would be Tommy. You guys are on your own."<br>"But isn't it dangerous to go into a super villain's liar?" Conner said, panic creeping into his voice. "Besides, we don't know how to fight really well. That could get us killed!"  
>"Conner, are you afraid of water?" Kira asked with a coy smile.<p>

"I'm not afraid of anything," he defended, " especially not water. I would just like to live to see my twenty-first birthday that's all."

"Uh huh," Kira said, completely unconvinced.

"It's true!"

"You can't swim, can you?" she challenged.  
>Before Conner could open his mouth, Ethan interrupted the pair. "Okay you two,the longer you stand here arguing, the longer Dr. O's missing and potentially in trouble. Haley, did you send the coordinates to the cycles so we can go? The sooner we leave, the better. Besides, I really want to see if Conner can swim."<p>

* * *

><p>Hey guys! Long time, no talk, eh? My life has been a nutshell, but my field hockey team did make it to sectionals, the farthest we've ever gone, and I broke the shutout record with 13, beating the old record by six. Our marching band took the Crowd Favorite award at our state championship competition, and we preformed the best we ever had in the current season. Overall, it's been a good month and a half except that my boyfriend broke up with me, and I'm taking it very hard. Luckily, I have writing new chapters for you guys, so it's getting me through the day. So, thank you guys and I'm sorry this has taken so long. But now, it's COMMENTS TIME!<p>

MaxKnight1010101-Thank you and I enjoy taking the original series and making it my own. It makes it fun to write and to read from an audience perspective.

fallingstar22-Thanks! I wanted Tommy to at least Kira's performance especially since in the original series, he originally missed the concert. I felt that with everything that has happened to the characters recently, Kira deserved to have Tommy see her first concert. As for Kira and Conner's "magic", it'll be coming up within the next couple of chapters. I'm just afraid of rushing the chemistry with everything that is going to be happening and how a real relationship tends to work. Unfortunately, you're going to have to wait until next chapter to see how the team rescues Tommy.

andyg2525-Thanks! Sorry the wait was so long. From now on, unless something dire comes up, I will be updating on Tuesdays so you can make it your Power Ranger FanFic Night!:)

YellowPrincess-Thanks, and you'll have to see what happens and if she does like him back;) (Sorry for the wait...)

FrostyTheBookLover-Yeah, he has, hasn't he? Thanks for reading!

oldtvlover-Thanks!

Well, that's it for now. As you can tell, I'm back and will be updating once again on Tuesdays. Unless something dire occurs, it will be weekly again as it was before my break. Thank you guys for sticking with me through this and I hope to get the number of readers back up to what it was a month ago. Spread the word to your other Conner/Kira, Power Rangers fan friends and let them know what is going down on this awesome story! Thanks so much again you guys. You truly make my day:)

Until next chapter,  
>Writingaddict169<p> 


	11. Rescuing Tommy

Chapter 10: Rescuing Tommy

"With this stone, my dream of taking Earth back to its prehistoric days will be reality." Mesogog stalked over to Tommy as the Life-Force Extractor was starting up.

"Why can't you just dream of taking over the world like all of the other sickos?" Tommy asked.

"Are you going to tell me how to open this stone or must I force it out of you?" Mesogog said with a mocking tone.

"You'll have it over my dead body," Tommy snapped.  
>"Why must you 'heroes' always be so stubborn?" The monster walked over to the side of the machine and pressed a small red button. A dagger-like object appeared and started to glow red. "Once that tips hits your heart, Oliver, you shall wish you had told me how."<p>

* * *

><p>"I still can't believe you don't know how to swim," Ethan chuckled as the trio blazed through the grassy terrain.<p>

"It's so freaking hilarious!" Kira agreed.

"It is not!" Conner argued. "And I never said I couldn't swim!"

"But you implied it," Kira said.

"Then you implied it wrong," Conner said. "I'm not afraid of water and I never said I couldn't swim. All I said was that I would like to live to see my twenty-first birthday, and the only way I am going to do that is if we call some of the ex-Rangers to come help us out. There is no way we can take on Mesogog by ourselves with practically no training experience and expect to survive."

"You know, that was incredibly thought out," Ethan complimented.

"Thank you."  
>"Too bad we don't believe a word of it," Kira laughed.<p>

"Hey, look, there's the invisiportal Haley was talking about," Conner said, trying to change the subject. "Get ready to access overdrive mode."

"For the record, this conversation is so not over," Kira said.

"3...2...1...Now!" Conner yelled, ignoring the yellow ranger. All three stones were put into place and locked at the same time. Conner could feel the engine roar to life. "Alright guys, you ready?" Getting two confident nods from his partners, he said, "Let's go!" Revving up the engine, Conner sped off and through the invisiportal. It felt nothing like what Ethan's sci-fi comic books made it seem. He wasn't pulled every which way and his atoms didn't disassemble and reassemble upon landing. Conner simply just appeared on the other side in a dimly lit hallway. He looked back to make sure the other two were still together.

"Okay, that was nothing like my comic books," Ethan complained. "I was _so_ ready to have my atoms reassemble at the other end."

"Now that Ethan's day has been ruined, can we please find Dr. O? I've been here one too many times and visiting just doesn't seem very appealing right now," Kira said.

"The sooner we find Dr. O, the better for all of us," Conner agreed. "But where do we start?"  
>"How about somewhere where those Tyrannodrones can't get us," Ethan suggested with panic. Connor looked to where Ethan had his eyes trained. Sure enough, a pack of Tyrannodrones was headed their way.<p>

"Don't just stand there, come on!" Kira cried as she dragged the two boys down the hallway and made a right. Running down the hallway, the three teens looked back to see the minions right now their tail. "Quick, in here!" Kira yelled and turned into a room. The two boys followed her without question and nearly knocked her over when they ran into her. Conner quickly grabbed her waist to make sure she didn't fall on her face.  
>"Why did you stop?" Ethan asked.<p>

"Because she saw me," a rough voice said. A dinosaur with a head shaped like a T-Rex was standing in front of the group. It wore a long back cloak as if to hid the rest of its body from wandering eyes. "And because she saw your teacher about to knock on the doorway to hell." Ethan and Conner looked over and saw Tommy strapped down on a chair with a glowing stick above his heart. "Tyrannodrones, attack!" the monster cried and a wall of minions rushed towards the rangers.

"You guys get Dr. O while I distract these guys," Conner said.

"Uh huh. No way are you going to get all the glory," Kira said. "I stay and you two go free Dr. O."  
>"Uh lovebirds, we really don't have time to argue about this," Ethan said. "How about you two fight and I go free Dr. O. Sound good? Great!" Mad that Ethan had once again called them lovebirds, Conner and Kira channeled their anger into the fight. Kira had sick-kicked a Tyrannodrone while Conner knocked another one out who had been sneaking up on the girl. <em>Despite the fact that they seem to hate each other, they work really well as a team, <em>Ethan thought.

"Ethan, a little help?" Dr. O called from his chair. The pointed stick was getting closer and closer to his heart and once it touched his body, he was a goner. Ethan ran over and started to release the restraints on his teacher.

"I can't get them," he said.

"What do you mean you can't 'get them'?" Tommy tested.

"I mean I can't undo the straps." Ethan frantically looked around for something sharp to cut the straps with but there was nothing. It was like the creepy guy had taken everything with him.

"Okay, then just turn off the machine."

"Right!" Ethan ran over to the control base and stopped, hands poised to type, but staring blankly at the box.

"Well?"  
>"Um, Dr. O, we kind of have a problem."<p>

* * *

><p>"How are you holding up?" Conner asked.<p>

"I'm perfectly fine!" Kira called back with a little pause between each word. "Just pissed off that these guys just won't let up. How are you doing? Especially since you're on an island that's surrounded by water and all."  
>"Oh, I'm fine," Conner said, "I could do this is all day. And for the record, I never said I was afraid of water!"<p>

"You didn't have to." Kira ducked just as two Tyrannodrones swung their sword-arms at each other. She rolled out of the way and kicked another in the gut just as she was coming up. She looked over and saw Conner being thrown against some type of control panel with a Tyrannodrone on top of him. He knocked the creature away just as another was sneaking up on him. "Conner, behind you!" she called just as the thing attacked.

"Thanks for the warning," he snarled. "Couldn't have said something sooner?"  
>"At least I said something!" she fought back.<p>

"Guys, this is so not a good time to be fighting like an old married couple," Ethan yelled from the other side of the room. "I'm trying to save our teacher's life and between the noise of the fight and the noise of you two, it's really not working out. So could you try and keep it down? Thanks." Rolling their eyes, the red and yellow ranger went back to fighting.

* * *

><p>"Ethan, listen very carefully," Tommy said loudly to his student. "If you don't do this correctly, I am mostly definitely going to die."<br>"Wow, Dr. O, you really know how to make a pressuring situation very relaxing," Ethan said sarcastically. "I can already feel the tension leaving my body as we speak."  
>"We don't have time for your jokes, Ethan," Dr. O snapped and Ethan instantly focused. It was like he had dealt with this kind of thing before, lives at stake and some comic was trying to make the situation a little bit lighter. Oh, wait, he had done this before. A gazillion times. When he was a bazillion different Power Rangers. "Push the lever on the left hand side all the way up and then push the green button in the center of the control box. That'll shut down the Life-Force Extractor. Then you're going to need to push the tip of it away from me just in case someone decides to turn it back on or accidentally hits it and turns it on. Next, you're going to have to see if you can take either Conner's sword or one of Kira's Ptera Grips to cut me loose. Mesogog knew what he was doing when he was luring you guys in."<p>

"Wait, that was Mesogog, as in our arch-enemy Mesogog?" Ethan asked. "And how do you know how to operate the Life-Force Extractor? I though this was an enemy type thing."  
>"Yeah and it is," Dr. O said quickly. "I'll tell you all about it later over some milk and cookies, but seriously, this is not the time or place."<br>"Right, sorry." Ethan looked to see if there was a button that would release Dr. O. Asking Conner or Kira for something of their's in the middle of a fight didn't seem like the best idea. Letting out a sigh when he found something, Ethan pressed a button and soon Tommy was standing on his feet.

"Thanks, Ethan," he said as he rubbed his wrists to get the feeling back. "Go help the others while I grab the gem."  
>"So that's why Mesogog took you," Ethan mused as he looked at the stone.<p>

"Just go," he said tiredly. Once he grabbed the stone, he and the three rangers could get out of here and back to Reefside. If they haven't seen the video already, they would. As he reached for the gem, something hit him hard on his side. Crumpling to the ground, Tommy looked up to see what hit him. "Mesogog."  
>"Tommy. Did you really think that I would let you escape with the gem? How sorely mistaken you are."<br>"So much talk and so little action," Tommy shot back. "Why don't you come and show me exactly what you had in mind."

"As you wish." Mesogog leaped at Tommy and swung a punch at his face. Ducking just in time, Tommy returned with a swift kick to the stomach that sent the monster stumbling a few feet back. Not wanting to be out done, Mesogog ran back and returned the gesture, this time sending Tommy into the control panel of the Life-Force Extractor and down to the ground. He advanced and picked the science teacher up before throwing him against the control panel again.

"Dr. O!" Kira cried as she stood behind Mesogog with the other two rangers.  
>"Go! Head for the portal. I need to grab something."<p>

"But—!"

"Go!" Hesitantly, the rangers listened and jumped through the green portal that had appeared.  
>"Get them!" Mesogog screamed at the last second before the teenagers disappeared. Tommy stood up and knocked the dinosaur to the ground while he was distracted and sprinted his way to the table where the gem sat. Instantly, Tyrannodrones were on him and he had limited movement because of the gem. He kicked the one creature that was in his way and ducked as another tried to take off his head. Making a run for it, Tommy kicked one last one before jumping through the portal.<br>"Do not let them get away," Mesogog warned to the group of followers surrounding him. "Or things will be worse for you than for him." Without a second thought, Elsa, Zeltrax, and a group of Tyrannodrones dove though the portal in pursuit of Tommy and the Power Rangers.

* * *

><p>Hey everyone! Guess what? It's Tuesday! Which means today was your "Read Writingaddict169's Awesome Story Day"! Well, what did you think? R&amp;R, please:) Not much happened in the past week which was good for because I had a chance to relax for once. This past weekend, I "got down" on Friday at my friend's birthday party, on Saturday, our football team lost their super-sectional game 0-35 which is okay because it's the furthest they've ever gone, Sunday I went to my very first Plato's Closet and I am now in love with the store and I really want to work there, and Monday was just a regular ol' boring Monday. What did you do on your weekend? Anything more interesting than mine? COMMENTS TIME!<p>

oldtvlover-Thanks!

FrostyTheBookLover-Thank you for both:)

YellowPrincess-I love updates, too:) And of course the Rangers saved Tommy! Without Tommy, this story would be pointless (because then the plot is ruined) and boring (because I love Tommy). As you read this, I am looking at upcoming chapters and trying to work some more Kira/Conner moments into them. This chapter was a little hard to do so simply because it's more of a fighting scene than just a regular scene where I could just enter a line of two of "I love you's" into the scene. But, if you paid really close attention, then you should have noticed tiny little Kira/Conner moments.

andyg2525-Anytime. And thanks for reading and reviewing! Wow, thanks so much for the compliment:) I'm pretty sure that just made my day!

Well that's it for COMMENTS TIME! I think there were so few comments this time around because last chapter was my first chapter back in a really long time. Hopefully, I will continue to gain more readers as we go along but I can't do that if you don't spread the word, so spread the word!

Thank you everyone who read this chapter and who will be leaving a comment or two (hint, hint, wink, wink). Have a great week and I'll see all of you next Tuesday!

Until next chapter,  
>Writingaddict169<p> 


	12. A New Ranger in Their Midst

Chapter 11: A New Ranger in Their Midst

"Where is he? He said he was right behind us!" Conner panicked. "If he got caught again, I'm going to wonder how he was a Power Ranger."

Green light filled the sky and a object fell to the ground. It was Tommy Oliver, holding what looked like a big clear rock.

"Dr. O, are you alright?" Kira called.  
>"I'm fine. But we've got some company coming over." Sure enough, Elsa, Zeltrax, and their pack of hungry Tyrannodrones stood a hundred feet away from Tommy. Tommy stood up and spun around, holding the gem in front of him like a shield just as a laser beam fired at him. His arms shook from the force of the beam and he wondered how much more he and the gem could take. Suddenly he was thrown back and a bright light forced him to cover his eyes. He felt something familiar wrap around his wrist, locking into place, and soon, the light was gone.<p>

"NO!" Kira screamed as she fell to her knees. The crystal had been smashed into a thousand different pieces and Dr. Oliver no longer stood where he had. He was gone.

"What have you done with him?" Conner shouted. It was hard enough that his teacher had been evaporated, but to see Kira so upset induced fury within him. "I swear when I get my hands on you—"

"Don't make promises you can't keep, kid," Elsa smirked. "Besides, you guys are only looking about the negatives. Look on the bright side for once, you'll find that it's a much happier place."

"Even the destruction of Tommy Oliver," Zeltrax agreed.

"So glad to hear how much you missed me, Zeltrax," a familiar voice said. Everyone looked around to see where it was coming from, but couldn't find the source. Elsa and Zeltrax were suddenly knocked to the ground and tied together. Moments later, a figure appeared out of nowhere.

"Dr. Oliver!" Ethan said.

"But, but how is it possible?" Elsa cried.

"There are two things you should know about Dino Gems, Elsa," Tommy said as he held out his right hand with a glowing black stone in the center. "One, you don't choose them, they choose you."

"And the other?" Elsa asked she stood up from the ground.  
>"They go really well with Dino Morphers." He brought up his left arm with a morpher attached like a watch. He placed the gem in the center and yelled, "Dino Thunder, power up! Ha!"<p>

Tommy felt something wrap around his body like a skin of silk and smiled as a helmet was lowered onto his head. When the transformation was complete, he stood in front of Elsa and her band of merry men as the other three rangers ran up to him.

"Aren't you a little old for this, Tommy?" Elsa taunted.  
>"Maybe, but I can still pull it off."<p>

"One more fool makes no difference," Zeltrax muttered. "Attack!" The Tyrannodrones rushed the four Power Rangers and the fight started.

Tommy roundhouse kicked the first Tyrannodrone that was brave enough to face him and quickly kicked the second in the stomach. He ducked and rolled out of the way just as two more were approaching him and fell to the ground as they hit each other in the head. He spun around and, using his momentum, knocked all of the surrounding creatures to the ground.

Tommy felt something creeping up on him from behind and quickly turned around and raised his arm to block a sword from making contact with his heart. Zeltrax. Taking a couple of quick steps back, Tommy took out his own sword from its sheath and held it out in front of him. "This is bringing back memories of the good ol' days," he said with a smirk. "And which villain do you want to be?"

"All of your talk means nothing, Oliver," Zeltrax said as he took a step closer to the Black Ranger. "Actions speak louder than words." Zeltrax rushed at Tommy and quickly slashed away as if he just wanted to hit him. The swords clanged against each other and the sound of metal hitting metal echoed throughout the empty square. The right-hand man of Mesogog kept pushing Tommy further and further back, not letting up. Noticing Zeltrax's form he waited for the next thrust and grabbed his hand where it met the hilt. Twisting the arm back, Tommy flipped him over and stood with one foot on his chest, sword pointed at his throat.

"Is that the best you can do?" Zeltrax asked tauntingly.

"Give me a break, it's been a while." Suddenly, Tommy was flying through the air and felt air rush from his lungs as he hit the ground. Zeltrax ran up to the fallen ranger and brought down his sword. Tommy rolled out of the way. The sword hit the ground where he had been laying milliseconds before. He kicked out his legs and knocked the brute to the ground by taking out his legs. Standing up, he stood over the monster with his sword raised.

"Just do it," Zeltrax said. "You've always wanted to."

"No, I'm better than that." Tommy lowered his weapon and took a few steps back to give Zeltrax some room. "Just tell your boss that Tommy's back, and no matter what color I'm wearing, he can never defeat me." In a blink of an eye, Zeltrax disappeared.

* * *

><p>"Man, today has been one sick day," Ethan commented in between sips of his blueberry smoothie. Cyberspace was closed for the night, but Haley allowed them to stay late considering what they had been through.<p>

"Yeah, first our teacher goes missing and then we have to rescue him," Kira said.

"Then we get new rides and a new, well, semi-new ranger," Conner agreed.

"Hey, aren't you going to tell us how you had that morpher ready?" Ethan asked. "I mean, there's no way it just appeared."  
>"Actually, Ethan, it did." Tommy looked at the amazed faces in front of him and laughed. "No, it didn't appear out of thin air, though stranger things have happened. I actually made this one in case I ever found the gem. I have a tracking system for energy readings and this kept showing up so I decided to make the morpher. Unfortunately, Mesogog got to the gem before us."<p>

"When were you going to tell us?" Conner asked.

"The day after Kira's gig. That's part of the reason why I wanted you guys to show up so early. Partly because I wanted to tell you guys and partly because you guys need some serious training."  
>"Training? Obviously you didn't see how awesome we were in that fight today," Conner said.<p>

"No, trust me, I did," he said, "and it was atrocious!"  
>"Hey!" all three rangers cried out.<p>

Tommy laughed. "It was! Anyways, there's something else I wanted to tell you guys on Saturday."  
>"What?" Ethan asked.<p>

"Now that you guys know about the energy tracking system I have, it makes it easier for me to tell you guys." Even though they were alone and nobody but the four and Haley were in the building, Tommy did a quick scan of the building just to make sure. "There are three other gems out there. I don't know what color and I don't know what their abilities are. I didn't create them which means Anton Mercer did without me knowing."  
>"Well, let's go get them," Conner suggested. "Better that they are in our hands and not Creepy Dinosaur Man's, right?"<br>"That's the problem," Tommy said. "I don't know where they are. Every time the system picks up on them, they disappear off of the radar. They are always someplace different, like someone keeps moving them around town. The system can't get a lock on their positions because of the energy flares they send. It isn't like our four gems where the energy reading was stable. Haley and I have been trying to work on it, but there's only so much technology can do for us."  
>"So what do we do?" asked Kira.<p>

"Keep your eyes open for anything suspicious or out of the normal."

"Like three teenagers and their teacher dressed in spandex fighting against evil monsters to save the world?" Conner smirked. "Because I don't think you need to look much further than this very room."

"Conner, this is a serious matter," Tommy scolded. "Seriously, keep a look-out for anything weird or someone acting strange. This will be the easiest way for us to find the gems if someone has gotten to them." Tommy stood up and placed his empty glass on the table. "I have to go. Since we missed our training session today, I want you at my house seven-thirty sharp next weekend. We have a lot of work to do."  
>"Where are you going?" Haley asked.<p>

"Shopping. When I looked in my closet, I discovered that I have a lot of green, white, and red clothing, but I'm seriously lacking in the black department. I figured I should update my closet. Besides, Power Rangers are only allowed to wear their designated color. Nothing else."

* * *

><p>Hey guys, sorry about the day delay. For whatever reason, FanFic wouldn't let me upload my story yesterday so I sent a complaint and they got it fixed! Yay! I'm so excited for Thanksgiving:) I cannot wait to stuff my face with pumpkin pie with a dallop of Cool Whip right on top! What's your fave Thanksgiving food to eat? Anyways, yesterday was filled with tests because all eight of my teachers thought it would be great to each give tests on the same day so I had nothing but tests to study for on Monday night. Trust me, it wasn't as great as it sounds. I'm pretty sure I failed at least two of them: How was everyone's week and a day? Let me know by leaving a review:) COMMENTS TIME!

oldtvlover-Thanks!

andyg2525-Thank you! It is a Kira and Conner fic, along with two more couples that will happen along the way. But if I told you know, that would ruin the surprise.

BellaVision-Thanks! However, I do apologize if my battle scenes aren't the greatest. They are my biggest weakness!

fallingstar22-Thank you so much! As you can tell, Dr. O did make it out on time, but then again, he is Tommy Oliver and it is expected for him to escape death within seconds. If he didn't, he wouldn't be Tommy Oliver;) The Power Rangers have already seen the video diary. I think two chapters ago they did. I didn't go in-depth with the video because people can either a)watch it on YouTube or some other video watching media and b) it's on Wikipedia whose Power Rangers information is actually well-written and true. I'm so jealous you went to Italy! I went a couple of years ago, but in the southern part of the country. We didn't have time to see the northern part. I hope it was a great trip!

YellowPrincess-I love Tuesdays, too! I hope Wednesday is an okay day, too, since I had to upload this week's chapter today. Trust me, Conner and Kira are only just starting. I will warn you though, that it goes a little flat in the next chapter for the episode, Diva in Distress, but I'll see what I can do to spice it up a little bit.

Well, that's it for this week's COMMENTS TIME! I hope you enjoyed it and I answered your questions per usual. For those who don't have an FFN account but love this story, you are more than welcomed to let me know. For my stories, you don't need an account to leave a review;) Again, sorry for the day late chapter, but next week a new chapter will be heading your way on Tuesday! Oh, and here's a little hint that will appear within the next couple of chapters: Trent will make his appearance as well as two former rangers. Who are they? Leave your guess in your review! Thanks for reading and I'll see you all next week!

Until next chapter,  
>Writingaddict169<p> 


	13. The Great Kylee Debate

Chapter 12: The Great Kylee Debate

"I refuse to believe that you know Kylee Styles!"  
>"Why? Because she's famous? Or because she's willing to give in to society?"<p>

"Kira, what are you talking about?" Conner asked.

"Believe it or not, Conner McKnight, but Kylee and I used to be best friends and we were actually very similar. Once she got picked up, she became different and decided to conform with society instead of sticking to everything she believed in. That's what I'm talking about." Kira took a sip of her water before flagging down the new waiter, Trent Fernandez, and asking for another glass of water. When he brought back a full glass, he quickly took away the empty one and tried to run away from the impending nuclear war between the two teens. Unfortunately for him, Kira roped him in. "What do you think, Trent? Do you think Kylee has given in to society by becoming something she's not?"

"Uh, well, you see, the thing is," he stuttered.

"Just get on with it!" Conner hissed. There was no reason for Kira to bring the new waiter into their conversation, and yet she still did. There was something about him that was off and it wasn't just because he always looked at Kira for one second too long.

"I don't really know Kylee that well, more like at all, so I can't really say anything about her. I kinda like her music, though. It's pretty catchy."

"That's my man!" Conner fake-yelled in support. He wasn't all that excited that waiter-boy agreed with him on anything. "This guy knows what he's talking about."

Kira rolled her eyes and turned to the silent boy sitting next to her and Conner. "Ethan?"  
>"Huh? What?" he asked, tearing his eyes from the screen. "Yes? No? Maybe so? What's the question again?"<br>Conner sighed. "What do you think of Kylee Styles?"  
>"She's okay. Her music is pretty catchy."<p>

"You people wouldn't know good music if it hit you in the face!" Kira cried in fake agony.

"Well, Kira, it looks like I have won this argument and I still don't believe that you know Kylee Styles," Conner said.

"Well, I do!"  
>"I'm on Kylee's fan site now and it looks like she's in town to promote her new album at the mall. Why don't you two go and settle this argument once and for all?" Ethan suggested. "Signing starts at noon. It's 11:30 now. You guys might still be able to see her if you leave now."<p>

"We'll go and I'll prove that Kira Ford is nothing but a big butt-face liar!" Conner declared loudly.

"You did not just call me a butt-face liar," she threatened.

"Uh, of course not," he stuttered. "What I really said was I can't wait to prove that you really don't know Kylee Styles and you are a liar. I didn't saying about a big butt-face liar."  
>"Whatever." Kira stood up and left the table while saying goodbye to Ethan and Trent and dragging the red ranger behind her.<p>

* * *

><p>"Look at all of these people!" Kira said. "There is no way everyone here is to see Kylee Styles."<p>

"Actually, I'm here to get my bunion cream," an old lady said. She turned around to face the two and pointed to her feet. "They get pretty nasty during the winter, you know."  
>Slightly grossed out, Conner pointed behind him. "I think that store is over there. I'm pretty sure Kylee Styles does not have bunion cream."<p>

"Oh, thank you, young man," she said and walked away.

"It's good to see you doing community service outside of the 'business'," Kira joked. "It truly warms my heart."

"Ha ha, you're funny. But your face will be even funnier when Kylee has no clue who you are," Conner shot back. The line was moving faster and soon they were able to see Kylee sitting at a table, wearing a fake smile. "Here's my CD, get her to sign it for me."  
>"Why don't you ask her yourself?" Kira asked.<p>

"Because I'm already dumbfounded by her beauty that if I get up close and personal with her, I won't be able to speak," he smirked.

"Wow, Conner, you used a big word and tried not to be creepy. I'm so proud of you!" Kira cheered as if she was talking to a little kid. "C'mon, we're next."

As they stepped up to the table, Kira handed the superstar Conner's CD and waited for Kylee to speak. "Who should I make this out to?" the singer asked.

"How about, _To my best friend, Kira_," Kira suggested. Kylee put her pen down and looked up.

"Oh my god! Kira Ford! How are you?" she screamed as she leaped up from her seat to give the girl a fake kiss and a hug. "It's been, like, forever since I last saw you. I didn't know you were a fan of my music."  
>"I'm not, but Romeo over here is," Kira said as she jerked her thumb in Conner's direction.<p>

Kylee gave the red ranger and once over and nodded her head. "He looks like a Romeo to me."  
>Conner flashed his award-winning McKnight smile and stuck out his hand. "Conner McKnight, at your service."<br>"And a flatterer," Kylee added, pleased. "Looks like you found a keeper, Kira. I always knew you would find someone _eventually_. Never thought it would happen this early, but hey, to each their own, right?"  
>"Yeah, I guess," Kira said, steel filling her voice.<p>

"Ms. Styles, I'm afraid we must leave if you wish to be on that taping tonight," a big bodyguard said as he leaned in towards the small group.

"Oh, thank God!" she cried. Turning to Kira, she apologized, "I'm really sorry, but I have to go. I'll see you around?"  
>"Yeah, sure," Kira said.<br>"Cyberspace!" Conner called out. When Kylee gave him a confused look, he explained, "Cyberspace. It's a place where we hang out. Kira has a show tomorrow, and knowing that you two used to be friends, maybe you could come? You know, to see what she's been up to."

"Uh, yeah, sounds great." Kylee looked to the bodyguard who gave her a shrug. As if he knew what her schedule was. All he cared about was his paycheck. "I'll check with my assistant and what I have going on. You know, being a superstar and all is really busy. I'll see you two later!" Kylee was led away by her team of protectors as the remaining crowd left to go home, disappointed that they had not been able to see their favorite singer.

"Now do you believe me?" Kira asked as they walked away from the now-empty table.

"Okay, so yeah, you know Kylee Styles, big whoop, but I thought she was nice." Kira narrowed her eyes at the boy. "Come on! Ask anyone at our school and I guarantee that nobody would believe you if you said that you knew Kylee Styles." Kira's eyes narrowed even further. "What? She's so...and you're so..."

"So what? Conner?" Ice filled her voice as she silently dared Conner to fill in the blanks. He opened his mouth to defend himself but a girlish scream came out instead.

"That sounded like Kylee. C'mon on!" he said, switching over to Power Ranger mode. The two ran up the nearby escalators and ran towards the parking garage where the scream came from. Sure enough, there was Kylee standing helplessly as Tyrannodrones attacked her bodyguards. A big furry donkey stood across from Kylee and was saying something that was clearly freaking her out. Whatever it was, Kira nor Conner could not hear, but leaped into the fight anyways. Kira made her way over to her friend as she ducked and dodged out of the grasping hands of the Tyrannodrones. She stood in front of Kylee protectively as she punched and kicked oncoming minions.  
>"Kira, what is going on?" Kylee asked, panic in her voice.<p>

"Now is really not the time to ask questions, don't you think?" Kira muttered. "Look, just run and don't look back. Whatever you do, just keep running. Go!" Doing something someone told her to do for the first time in years, Kylee nodded and took off running, hoping to get away from the horrible creatures.

Kira didn't see which way her old friend went, but she tried to keep the Tyrannodrones in front of her in hopes that Kylee would be far away when this nightmare was done. Distracted by her thoughts, Kira felt her legs drop out from under her and felt the air leave her lungs as her back hit the concrete. A Tyrannodrone raised its sword-like hand up in the air and Kira closed her eyes to brace herself for a stinging blow. But it never came. She opened her eyes and saw Conner taking care of the monster. He turned around and helped his fallen teammate up off the floor.

"Are you okay?" he asked, concern written all over his face.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but where's the monster? I thought you had him."

"I thought you had him," Conner repeated.  
>"Oh no," they both said as another girlish scream filled the air. Kira shot off running. She found the source just a couple feet away and slowly approached the girl.<p>

"Kylee, are you okay?"

"Okay? Okay? Kira I am anything but okay! Just look at my face!" Kylee cried as she turned around.

"In all honest, it doesn't look half bad," Kira said as she tried to comfort her friend.  
>"Kira, look at me. I'm...OLD!" Kylee wailed. Sure enough, the former pop star's face was covered in wrinkles and was pale as a piece of paper. When Conner ran up to the two girls, he slowed down and started to back away.<p>

"What happened to her face?" Kira whacked him hard in the gut and slapped the back of his head. "God! What as that for?"  
>"For being an asshole." Turning to Kylee, Kira said, "Look, we're going to figure this out. We'll take you back to Cyberspace where Haley will keep you out of the eyes of the paparazzi. From there, someone will figure out how to turn you back."<p>

"You don't understand," Kylee wailed, "I have a taping tonight that I can't miss! I can't go out on stage like this! Everyone will turn away in disgust!"

"And until someone figures out how to change you back, you're going to hide out in Cyberspace where no one will have any idea who you are," Kira explained for the second time. "Trust me, Haley will take care of you and as long as you don't say your name is Kylee Styles, you'll be fine."

* * *

><p>Conner and Ethan were in the "Dino-cave", as Conner liked to call the base, with Dr. Oliver as he showed clips of the donkey taking people's youth. "Mesogog's probably figured out a way to turn youth into energy which means we have to figure out why," Tommy said to the two teens sitting in the cave with him.<br>"This is so wrong in so many ways," Ethan commented as he watched multiple clips of young people turning into the elderly.

"Yeah, I mean, who knew so many hot girls would become ugly when they become old," Conner said. He braced himself for a hard whack on the back of the head, but relaxed when he remembered that the usual attacker was not with them. Instead, he got a weak punch on the arm from Ethan.

"That was from Kira," he admitted. "She said if you acted like a dick I should hit you."

"Thanks," the red ranger said dryly. "Glad to know she cares so much."

"Speaking of the yellow ranger," Tommy said, "where is she?" Conner adverted his gaze to the interesting ground and mumbled something unintelligible. "What? Conner, this is just like class. You have to speak up. I'm old and my hearing is going out."

"She's at Cyberspace with Kylee hoping to calm her down," he explained.

"Plus she's kinda avoiding him at the moment," Ethan chimed in.

"How do you know?" Conner asked.

Ethan shrugged his shoulders. "I'm just guessing. She just told me about Kylee and remembering what she said earlier, I guessed it wasn't to catch up on the past couple of years over milk and cookies. That, and she kinda gave you a death glare when you weren't looking."

"I don't want to know what happened, but you two can sort out your problems later," Tommy said. "Right now, we have a job to do that requires saving the world. Conner?"

"Ready?" he shouted into the nearly empty cave.

"Ready!" his friend and teacher yelled back.

"Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!"

* * *

><p>Ha ha, and I leave you at the intense start of a battle! I'm such a terrible person... Anyways, hey guys! How was your Thanksgiving for those who had it? Mine went really well, ate a ton of turkey and multiple types of desserts, and had one nice big food baby by the end of the night:) Nothing really interesting happened this week in my world since I mostly had the entire past week off. However, I was able to reconnect with a friend over the weekend and we played Batman: Legos for the Wii. I know it sounds lame, but when you get her and I together, a game of Tag becomes the best game ever. Oh, and I want to apologize before I get complaints that there wasn't enough ConnerKira happening in this chapter. I promise you, it's coming up soon and you have to be patient. When I write my stories on FanFic, I always have to write three chapters ahead of which one I'm going to be posting for the week so if I end up extremely busy on Tuesday, I can just pop up an already made chapter for the week and write two more chapters for the week so I'm all caught up on everything. I know it sounds kind of confusing (it is to me), so just trust me, it works. Anyways, back to my apology, I'm sorry if there wasn't a ton of Conner/Kira or Trent or whoever else you were expecting when I said there would be. I was thinking of the chapter I was writing at the time when I wrote out the responses. But believe me, it's coming! Along with those surprise Rangers;) COMMENTS TIME!

FrostyTheBookLover-Thanks!

andyg2525-You're welcome! I'm sorry to hear that. I hope you are feeling better!

YellowPrincess-Thank you! Yes, yes they do.

fallingstar22-Thanks! I personally love this season simply because Tommy was in it! Among other things... As for your guess, very interesting. Maybe I can include them.

BellaVision-Thanks, I will!

Well, that's it for this week. I start club field hockey this week and I really hope I make the travel team, so things are about to get hectic all over again. Wish me luck! (P.S. Thank you for reading my story; I hope you enjoyed it. Please leave an interesting, creative, constructive, adoring, etc, comment by clicking the button below. If you have something nice to say, leave a comment. If you don't have something nice to say, leave or comment (or don't, it's your choice). If you have nothing to say, think of something and leave a comment!)

Until next chapter,  
>Writingaddict169<p> 


	14. Connecting and Reconnecting

Chapter 13: Connecting and Reconnecting

"What am I going to do? My career is over! I don't even think I can sing anymore!" Kylee wailed in the empty Cyberspace. Because the crazy, youth-sucking Donkeyvac was running all over town, no one was willing to take their chances and all decided to run home before their youth was gone. Sadly, they didn't know that Haley had secured the building about a thousand different ways for about a thousand different things. When you are in the business of the unexpected, you have to prepare for anything. Unfortunately, Kira hadn't prepared for the dramatic super star who had been like this for the past hour. No matter what she or Haley could do, nothing could calm the great Kylee Styles.

"Everything is going to be okay," Kira said for the hundredth time. "Someone is going to reverse this, this, whatever it is that you have, and everything will be okay."  
>"And when will that be Little Miss Perfect?" Kylee screeched. "I have a show to do tonight and if I'm not on it, then not only will my fans be disappointed, but my CD sales will go down, and I won't be able to get back on the show for months!"<p>

"Oh, the horrors of not being on one TV show when there are a million others out there," Haley playful cried from behind the counter. She was keeping an eye on the boys while they were out fighting the mutant from her laptop. With all of the cameras she had installed in the city, no matter where they went, she would always be able to find them.

"It's not funny!" Kylee screeched again. "This show either makes or breaks artists. New Kids on the Block went on it when they were just beginning their career and suddenly they were the next best thing in the eighties! Ever hear of Natalia Wood? No? That's because her appearance on the show was absolutely hideous. Her interview was one of the worst interviews I've ever seen in my entire life. It's no wonder why she never truly released an album." She chugged the icy water sitting on the table in front of her before she continued her rant. "If I am not on this show tonight, there will be no more Kylee Styles. I have waited months to get on and if I'm not, I'm done for. If my interview sucks, I'm done for. If my song sucks, then I'm done for. I have been preparing for this thing way too long to just have to cancel because some idiot thinks it would be hilarious to see everyone extremely old looking. I mean, I must look at least forty!"

Kira looked over and saw Haley roll her eyes and pretend to sob while Kylee was ranting. A beeping sound filled the room and Kira saw that it was her Dino Gem bracelet. The gem in the center was glowing a slight orange light which meant Conner was calling her.

"Kylee, I'm really sorry, but I have to go," Kira said as she stood up.

"Wh...Where are you going? You can't leave me here all by myself. You're my friend, Kira!" Kylee said as she tried to guilt trip Kira. But that wasn't going to work.

"Kylee, I'm sorry, but I have to go," she apologized.  
>"What about that thing that's running around? What if he gets you?"<br>"I'll be fine," Kira said as she made her way to the door. "Haley, play this for her while I'm gone, will you? It'll help her out. And keep a close eye on her, make sure she doesn't go anywhere." She handed the woman a CD and ran out the door.

* * *

><p>While Ethan and Dr. O where battling the Tyrannodrones the Donkeyvac had let loose, Conner ran after the offending villain and trapped him in an alleyway. "It's over, Donkeyvac. Give it up," he said in his best cop voice. <em>Man, I've always wanted to say that,<em> Conner thought.

The mutant laughed, "That's what you think!" and aimed a laser gun right at Conner's heart. A deafening sound filled the air and Conner tried to cover his ears to block out the noise. He opened his eyes and saw the Donkeyvac being blown against the wall, the laser gun flying out of his hand, and yellow sound waves bouncing off of the walls. There was only one person who could do something like that.

When the deafening sound was over, a hand reached down to pull him up off the ground. Conner stood up and looked at his yellow-dressed smirking savior. "Now we're even."

"How about next time you warn a guy?" he asked and she blushed. Conner noticed that the Donkeyvac was beginning to recover from the blow and Kira was unmorphed. He nodded and her bracelet transformed into her morpher.

"Dino Thunder Power Up! Ha!" A bright yellow light flashed and suddenly the yellow ranger was standing next to her leader. She took a defensive stance, getting ready to fight the mutant of Mesogog who had taken the youth of her old best friend. (No pun intended.)

She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to look at Conner who simply pointed behind him. Kira looked and saw Dr. Oliver and Ethan running towards them. "Z-Rex blaster?" he asked. She nodded and smiled underneath her mask, knowing Conner would never see it.

* * *

><p>"Man, that was one weird day," Conner commented.<p>

"What do you mean?" Ethan asked. "Everyday is weird when you are a...well, you know."  
>"Yeah, there was that, but Kira actually knows someone whose famous and nothing like her. C'mon, knowing the two personalities, there is no way you would have believed that those two used to be friends," Conner said. "Those two are like night and day."<p>

"Yeah, too bad we didn't get a chance to see them together," Ethan agreed.

"What are you two talking about?" Dr. Oliver asked as he sat down at the boys' table. Kira came up a few moments later and stood between Ethan and Conner.

"Oh, nothing, just how happy we are that all of the hot chicks have their youth back," the jock said with a smirk on his face. Knowing he was getting a swift hit on the head, he quickly winked at Kira to let her know he was kidding. She smiled back but hit him anyways.

"You are such an a—" she started to say before she remembered who was in their presence.

Tommy dismissed it with a wave of his hand. "Go ahead and say it. It's after school hours, you guys fought a mutant, and quite frankly, I would hit him too if I wasn't going to be in trouble with the law." The singer smiled and hit the jock on the back of the head, not as hard as she usually did, but enough so he could still complain about how the girl was abusing the guy.  
>"I have to get on stage," Kira said when she heard her band mates calling.<p>

"Good luck!" the table of boys shouted as she walked away from them.

"So, what's the deal Conner?" Ethan asked as soon as the yellow ranger was out of earshot.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"You and Kira suddenly getting a little flirty," Ethan said. "What happened in that alleyway before Dr. O and I showed up?"  
>"Nothing, she just kinda saved me," he mumbled, hoping they wouldn't asked him to say it again.<p>

"What was that?" Dr. O joked, wanting to get in on torturing the red ranger. "You know, this is just like class, Conner. You need to speak up; I'm old and my hearing is going out."

"I said, she kinda saved me," Conner said a little bit louder this time. "I was about to get killed by a laser gun and she used her supersonic scream to save me. Happy?"

"Very much so, yes," Ethan smirked. "Oh, quiet, the show's about to start. Especially since Conner wants to give his savior his full attention. You just can't keep your eyes off of her, huh, Conner?"

"Shut up!" he hissed as the house lights dimmed. "And no, I prefer girls who wear make up and just because she saved me once doesn't mean any of you two wouldn't have done the same."

"Feisty, just like the chick who saved him," Ethan nagged.  
>"Will you two shut up?" some kid said from the next table over. "I'm trying to listen."<p>

They weren't going to apologize, but when Tommy shot them a death glare, they said "Sorry" and turned their attention back to the show.  
>"Hey everyone! Thanks for coming out tonight. We're going to start tonight's show off with a song I wrote a couple of years ago with my best friend. I hope you like it." A few chords filled the air as she began to sing:<p>

_**Best friends  
>They come and go depending on your highs and your lows<br>My best friend decided not to be there when I needed her the most  
>I thought you'd be there for me<br>Then why did you lie to me  
>Using me to get what you want?<br>Then I couldn't believe it happened  
>No, I couldn't understand<strong>_

Kira nodded her head along to the beat and relaxed when she saw Conner smiling brightly at her. He liked the song, she could tell. She took a breath to start the next verse but the voice coming out wasn't her own, but she knew it like her own. It was Kylee Styles'.

_**True love walked out the door  
>Couldn't take it no more<br>True love  
>It broke my heart<br>You make my whole life sore  
>He said he'd be my baby<br>Then why did he betray me?  
>Temptation got to his head<br>Then I left him, yeah  
>And this is what I said<strong>_

_**It feels like it's gonna be okay  
>(It's gonna be okay)<br>It feels right  
>It just feels that way<br>(It just feels that way  
>It feels like<br>It'll be a better day  
>Cause I believe that in the end<br>Good things are coming my way**_

The song ended and Cyberspace erupted in applause. Kira had forgotten now nice it was to sing a duet with someone whose voice was a complete compliment to her own. They started another song and another, until Kira's set list was over with and the entire crowd was on their feet applauding the duo. She looked over at the pop star and smiled when she smiled back. It was just like old times, singing with her best friend and their band in their garages, always hoping someone would call to give them a chance to play. Except now everyone called Kylee because they always wanted her to sing and Kira was considered a regular at Cyberspace and was expected to be there. She didn't have a record deal like Kylee, nor did she have her posters hanging in someone's room, and maybe, just maybe, that was perfectly alright with her right now. She had more important things to do at the moment.

Kylee stepped off of the stage and was swarmed by her adoring fans. Kira placed her guitar gently in its holder and sat down on the edge, sipping from her water bottle. She saw Conner walking towards her and joined her on the stage. "Why aren't you over there with the rest of them, mooning over Kylee?" she asked.

"Because, I'm sitting next to the real star of the show," he said with a smile. "Besides, your fan club is a whole lot better than hers. Your concerts are free, your music is really good, and you're just a real person."  
>"Okay, who are you and what have you done with Conner?" she laughed. The boy shrugged as he took the water bottle out of her hands and took a sip.<p>

"Believe it or not, I'm the real Conner McKnight. Residential soccer superstar and the most popular guy at school who happens to have made some fairly unlikely friends in a fairly unlikely situation." He handed her water back and wiped the remaining liquid off of his mouth with the back of his hand. "And before you continue to worry your pretty little head, I wanted to say I'm sorry for not believing in you."

"It's okay," Kira said. "I honestly didn't expect you to. Nobody would believe that Kylee Styles and Kira Ford used to be BFFs and sang in a garage together back in the day."

"True."  
>Kira waited a moment before asked, "What did you mean in the mall when you said 'She's so...and you're so'?"<br>"Uh...nothing. It was nothing." The yellow ranger glared until he gave in. "I just meant that people, and I mean me, want her because she seems so untouchable. Is that not why people strive to be famous? But you, you are just real. You put your soul into every single word you sing when you write a song and just put true emotion behind every song you sing. Kylee can't do that. Her songs are nothing but words people put on paper for her to sing. She's generic. But you are unique. That's why you're so attractive." Kira blushed and Conner realized what he said. "And when I say attractive, I mean attractive as in people like listening to your music instead of that other stuff. You're real and that's why all of these people come to your show every Friday, sometimes Saturday, nights."  
>"All of these people came to see Kylee," she said bitterly.<p>

"No, they didn't it," he said. "Ethan and I were talking just as the show was about to start and some guy told us to shut up before Kylee even appeared. These people really like you Kira, and I don't know if you noticed or not, but the numbers have been growing each and every week."

"They have, haven't they?" she smiled. "People really do like me."

"Yeah, but they are going to have to get in line for the Kira Ford Fan Club."  
>"Why's that?" she asked.<p>

"Because there are only three spots and they are currently filled by three Power Rangers."

* * *

><p>Hey guys! I just realized that I completely forgot to upload this chapter before the next one which is why the next couple of chapters are going to be reuploaded. You know, I'm disappointed that none of you guys caught this mistake! Didn't you guy want to know what happened after the end of chapter 12? You silly people;) Don't worry, I'll be uploading this week's chapter next.<p>

Until next chapter,  
>Writingaddict169<p> 


	15. Green Eyed Monster? Or Is It Red?

Chapter 14: Green Eyed Monster? Or Is It Red?

Ethan was doing nothing less than minding his own business and quietly working on his English paper that was due the next day. What was so important about knowing the meaning behind blue curtains was certainly above his comprehension and pointless in his mind. But to get into MIT, he would have to suck it up. As he continued to find quotes for his paper, he didn't notice a certain blond-haired girl take a seat across the small table from him until she spoke. "A strawberry smoothie, please," she said.

"Where's Conner?" Ethan asked, not bothering to look up from his laptop. He had to get this done if he wanted to play Realistic Warfare 4.

"Practice I think," Kira said. "He said he would meet up with us later."

"Us or you?" Ethan smirked.

"Us," she glowered. "Thanks, Trent!" she smiled as a red glass was placed in front of her. The teenage waiter was dressed in all white, probably part of Haley's dress code for her employees. His dark hair and eyes were a drastic contrast to his lightly tan skin.

"No problem," he said as he reached out to take Kira's money. A pad of paper slipped out from under his arm and dropped to the ground.

"Let me get that for you," Kira offered as she reached down.

"No, don't! I'll get it!" Trent protested but was too late. Kira had picked up the pad and was flipping through the pages.

"These...are amazing," she said as she scanned each page's content. They were filled with drawings of various cartoon characters dancing and flying through an empty sky. "Where did you learn how to draw like this?"  
>"I can't. Not really anyways," he muttered. "I'm more of a comics type of guy instead of a classical painter."<br>"Have you ever thought about art school?"  
>"Yeah, but my dad, he wants me to take over the family business one day," Trent said. "There's no way he'd let me go to art school anyways. He'd say that it's a waste of his hard-earned money."<br>"Yeah, but if it's something that you are really passionate about, then I'm sure you'll find a way to go and I'm sure he will support you no matter what." Kira smiled as she took a sip of her smoothie.

"Thanks, Kira." He took his sketchpad back from the girl and walked away to ring up another girl's order. Kira's eyes followed him as he walked over to the cash register and stared at him for what seemed like eternity.

"Uh, earth to Kira? You're spacing out," Ethan said as he frantically waved his hand in front of her face.

"What? Oh, sorry," she apologized. She took a sip of her smoothie and smiled as the cool liquid slid down her throat. How Haley always managed to make a perfect smoothie every time eluded Kira, but she would never ask.

"Thinking about a certain boy dressed in red?" he joked. Ethan quickly dodged a flying paper napkin as Kira blushed a bright red that could rival the ranger's said color.

"I'm afraid that that is not the correct answer, but thanks for playing. The correct answer is a certain boy dressed in white." Kira continued to bluntly stare at the new waiter until someone snapped their fingers in front of her face.

"Hello? Anybody in there?" Kira blinked rapidly to break herself out of her trance and looked up to see Conner McKnight standing in front of her with his signature grin. "It's okay, Kira, everybody daydreams about me at some point or another."  
>"I don't," muttered Ethan as he continued to type furiously. At this point, he was considering just writing random stuff down and turning in the paper. He really wanted to play Realistic Warfare 4.<p>

Ignoring the blue ranger, Conner said, "You know, if it's about my body, you don't have to wait to see my abs in the summer. I'm more than happy to take my shirt off whenever asked."

"Ew, Conner, get away from me," Kira laughed when she playfully pushed him aside. "Personally, I don't find stomach flab sexy."

The soccer player turned to look at his friend who was trying to ignore the painful flirting and avoiding of feelings at the table. "Did she just call my abs of steel stomach flab? Did she just seriously do that?"  
>"Dude, honestly, I'm not even paying attention to your love fest over there," Ethan said, hoping he wouldn't get hit by something too hard.<p>

"One day, Kira, you wait and see, I will get you back for saying my abs are nothing but stomach flab," Conner warned as he took a drink of her smoothie. _Strawberry_, he thought,_ how appropriate._ Using speed Conner was proud of, Kira quickly snatched her drink back and wiped away any germs he might have left. Finishing what was left in the glass, she put the cup down and took out her homework, Conner following suit.

Trent quickly swung back around to the three's table and replaced Kira's empty glass with a new one. When she started to protest, Trent shushed her and told her it was on the house. As the waiter walked away, Kira continued to stare after him, not even bothering to try and look like she was staring at something else. Conner felt something course through his veins as he glared at the girl. After a few minutes of staring, she returned to her homework with Conner silently brooding next to her. When she finally noticed something was wrong, she asked, "What?"

"What? Did you seriously just ask me what?"

"Um, yeah..." she trailed off. "Since when is it a crime?"  
>"You've been staring at that guy for the past five minutes!"<p>

"So?"

"So, don't!"

"Why not?"

Now Conner was stuck. What was he supposed to say? That he was slightly jealous of whoever that guy was for catching Kira's eye? Or the fact that she had been bluntly staring at him for the past couple of minutes instead of Conner? "Because, because..."  
>"Now you're screwed big guy," Ethan commented under his breath so only Conner could hear him.<p>

"Because it's rude to stare at someone!" he managed to sputter. "And he's dressed all in white!"

"It's rude?" Kira raised her eyebrows. "Since when is it rude for me to check out some guy, but it's okay for you? And what does him being dressed all in white have to do with this conversation?"  
>"One, I don't check out guys, I check out girls and I do it discreetly," Conner said, "And two, Dr. O said to keep our eyes open for anyone acting weird. He's wearing white like how we wear our colors. Isn't that a sure-tell sign that there's something up with him?"<p>

"Because he's wearing white? Are you kidding me?" Kira screeched. "Maybe it's Haley's uniform for him? Or maybe today he decided to wear white instead of blue. If he did wear that blue shirt, would that make him the blue Power Ranger? No, because he's sitting right there!" She pointed at Ethan as emphasize.

"Hey, do NOT drag me into this," Ethan warned as he continued to type. "I have a paper that's due tomorrow and I still kinda need to write it. I don't have time to help you two out with your relationship problems."

"Dr. O said to keep his eye out for anyone acting suspicious, and that guy seemed pretty suspicious to me," Conner said. "And he's practically wearing all white! If Haley could tell who we were just by wearing our colors, why can't we?"  
>"Because she knew to keep her eyes open!" Kira fought back. "And what exactly was suspicious about Trent? You saw him, what, once? And that's when he came over to give me a refill."<br>"Yeah, on the house! He wants something from you. He's one of THEM!" Conner yelled.

"How in the world do you know? Can you read minds now, oh great and mighty red one?" she sniped.

"No, but from the way he acted, I can tell," Conner said proudly. "It's a guy thing, you wouldn't understand."  
>Kira opened her mouth to retaliate but was cut off by a beeping sound coming from Conner. The rangers quickly looked around to see if anyone was nearby before crowding around Ethan's computer to seem like they were looking at something on the screen. Conner pressed a button on the side and Tommy's voice floated out of the face of the watch.<p>

"Rangers, meet me by the edge of the forest at Tranquil Road and Waves Drive in three minutes. I have a lock on two of the gems and I'm not letting them get away from me again!" The connection went dead and the three rangers ran out to Conner's car.

"I'm never going to be able to play Realistic Warfare 4 tonight, am I?"

* * *

><p>"Why here of all places?" the man asked as he got out of his red jeep.<p>

"When I looked on-line, the name sounded pretty and it's a town we've never been to," the woman said as she climbed out of the passenger seat. "Besides, does it matter where we hike? You said it was my turn and my only restriction was some place close to Angel Grove. This was the closet I could find without going someplace we've been before. I wanted something new and exciting. Isn't that why we do this stuff?"

The man groaned as he massaged his temples when his best friend started another segment of their never-ending fight. He preferred things closer to the cities and heard-of towns; she liked things from small towns and places that were never on any map. Growing up in Angel Grove certainly shaped where they were traveling next. "Yes, Kimberly, that is why we do all of this stuff," he answered in a monotonous voice, his way of mocking her. "Personally, I always thought it was to relive our glory days."  
>"Jase, what am I going to do with you?" Kimberly asked. "Sometimes I wonder why I bother coming along with you at all."<br>"Because you love me and you can't resist excitement. None of us can." Jason popped up the trunk and unloaded two large bags filled with equipment, handing one to Kimberly and slinging the other onto his back. "You know, we should see if any of the original six want to take a big trip together. It's been, what, almost ten years since we were all together?"

"Don't you mean us five?" she asked as she headed into the woods. "Anyways, it'd be nearly impossible. Billy's on Aquitar, Zack is busy with his dance company, Trini is in Washington D.C. working for the President, you have your martial arts studio, I have my gymnastic coaching."

"And what about Tommy?" Jason asked about his best friend.

"Jason, Tommy hasn't been seen or heard from since he passed off his power to T.J.," she said delicately. He had taken Tommy's abandonment pretty hard. Even when Tommy was a ranger after Jason had moved on, they still had talked to each other. But once Tommy had passed the power onto the then-new red ranger, Jason hadn't received so much as a text message or phone call from the former green ranger. "Who knows where he is or what he's doing," she continued, trying to gently remind her friend that he had broken it off with them, not the other way around. "If he was going to contact any one of us, Jason, it would have been you, and we both know it."

Jason continued to angrily walk slightly ahead of Kimberly so he wouldn't do something he would regret. He wouldn't hit her, God no, they were too close for that to ever happen. He was afraid he was going to say something that would quickly end this conversation and start a silent treatment courtesy of Kimberly. "You don't know him like I do," he said quietly, hoping she wouldn't hear him. She did.

"Jason, I dated him for a very long time and I do know him like you do. And we both know that he would have contacted you first if he wanted to talk to someone. You're his best friend, Jase, you were there for him when I couldn't be." She trailed off as she thought back to when she had sent Tommy that dear John letter so long ago. The truth was, she had never met anyone else, she hadn't met anyone when she was down in Florida. Her coach put her up to it, believing it would make her concentrate better.

"I guess that doesn't mean too much to him nowadays, huh?" the former red ranger asked bitterly. "You know, never once did he call, send an email, or shoot me a text. He didn't even bother to send me a Christmas or birthday card!" Kimberly silently walked a little behind her friend as he raved. Every time they talked about it, he would say the same thing. She had learned long ago that it was better to just leave him be, but let him know that you were still listening. "I tried to contact him. Anytime I found an address with his name on it, I sent him a little card for his birthday or for Christmas and it always came back rejected. Do you know what that's like? Having your best friend completely turn his back on you after everything you've been through together. All the secrets you shared, all the memories you created."

"Yes, yes I do," she said so softly. Jason didn't hear her but knew that she had said it. She said that one line every time he asked her if she knew how it felt to be abandoned by Tommy.

"I...I don't know what I'll do if I ever see that little bastard again," he said softly, not meaning the meaning behind the word. They walked quietly for an hour, lost in their own thoughts, hoping they would be able to find their way back. "What would you do?" Jason asked after the hour.

"What?"  
>"What would you do if you saw Tommy again?" He stopped and stared at Kimberly, the girl whom he had grown up with all of his life, the girl who had fallen in love with his best friend and hadn't been able to get over him, no matter how hard either tried.<p>

She dropped her gaze onto the forest floor and whispered, "I don't know."

* * *

><p>"What took you so long?" Tommy yelled before Conner even stopped the car.<p>

"I was just trying to be a law-abiding citizen by following the speed limit," Conner said innocently when he stepped out of the car.

"Right now isn't the time to be law-abiding, Conner," the teacher scolded. "C'mon!" He ran off into the forest leaving three stunned teenagers standing in his dust.

"Uh, did that just really happen?" Ethan asked, deadpan.

"Well, we don't really have a choice, do we?" Kira stared to run after her teacher but stopped when no one followed her. "Come on! These gems have Dr. O scolding at Conner for following the speed limit. This is obviously important." She ran off again, not bothering to look behind her to see if they were following her.

"Right, right, coming!" the boys said together and quickly ran after their yellow counterpart.


	16. Red and Pink, Meet Red, Yellow, and Blue

Chapter 15: Red and Pink, Meet Red, Yellow, and Blue

"Wanna stop here for lunch?" Jason asked when he reached a small clearing surrounded by trees. The ground was smooth and the trees blocked out the shining intensity of the sun just enough so neither would be blinded.

"Sure, sounds good." Both of the hikers dropped their bags onto the ground, shortly joining them. Taking out their packed lunches, they ate quietly, once more lost in their thoughts of what they would do if they ever saw their friend again.

"So what would you do?"  
>Kimberly looked up from her sandwich and glared at Jason. "I already told you, Jason, I'm not sure what I would do. It's been so long since I've seen him, I can't imagine I would even recognize him if I saw him."<br>"Kimberly, I know that's what you've been thinking about ever since I asked you back there." Jason took a sip of his water before opening his bag of chips. He put one chip into his mouth but nearly spat it back out because of the amount of salt that was on it. "And I have a feeling that if either of us saw Tommy, whether he had a long scraggly beard or was as bald as Zordon, I'm sure we'd recognize him."

"Well, in that case, I guess, whatever I did would be spur-of-the-moment, you know?"

"I guess." The duo finished their lunch and stood up to continue on with their hike before they had to head back to Jason's jeep. "Ready?"  
>"Yup. You?"<br>"Always."

"Great, let's OUCH!"  
>Kimberly rushed over to the fallen man and helped him back to his feet. "Jason, are you okay?"<br>"Yeah, I'm fine," he said. "I just tripped."  
>"Can you walk?"<br>"Yeah, I'm fine. My ankle doesn't seem broken or anything, just hurts."

"What did you trip on?" Kimberly asked as she scanned the ground for any offending tree root.

"I—I think it was a rock." He reached down and picked up the oval rock and almost drop it when he felt the heat radiating off of it. "Uh, Kimberly, rocks don't give off heat, right?"  
>"Yeah. You passed freshman biology so I know you know this," she joked.<br>"Then can you tell me why this one is?" She walked over and took the object from his hands.

"Jase, this is ice cold. It's not giving off heat. It's a rock." She gave the rock back to him when her eye caught something. "What's this?" Kim picked it up, and like Jason, felt a strange warmth start to flow off of it. "Okay, this is weird," she said as she switched from feeling her rock to Jason's.

"When you're an ex-Ranger, nothing is weird," Jason joked while he worriedly gazed at Kimberly. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, but, feel my rock. Is it warm to you?" she asked with seriousness.

"No, it's ice cold. Are you mocking me?"  
>"No, I swear to God this rock is heating up the longer I hold it."<p>

"Good, that means it's bonding with you," a voice said, somewhere hidden in the trees. "That just makes my job a whole lot easier."  
>"Who are you?" Kimberly asked the empty forest. Whoever the voice belonged to, she didn't want to meet.<p>

"Show yourself!" Jason taunted as he scanned the area looking for the person who spoke. He could already tell by the way his muscles were tensing that something was not right and something was about to go down.

"Very well," the voice said. A woman dressed all in black stepped out from a tree and glared at the two ex-Rangers in front of her.

"Who are you?" Kimberly repeated. "What do you want?" She unconsciously took a step closer to Jason and glanced out of the corner of her eye to look at him. His mouth was set in a stony line and she noticed that he was fingering his wrist lightly, a sign that he wished he still had his morpher.

"My name is Elsa and I want those gems."

"Gems? These things are just plain old rocks," Jason said. "You can have them if you want."  
>"Oh, but I need you two as well." Elsa's mouth turned into a toothy grin as she cried, "Tyrannodrones, attack!"<p>

* * *

><p>"Dr. O, are we lost?" Ethan asked as he stepped over a fallen rotting log.<p>

"No, we're not lost. The indicator says we're just over half a mile away. We're getting close. Come on!" he yelled, trying to motivate the teenagers. "We have to get there before Elsa or Zeltrax do!"

"And if they're already there?" Conner asked, deciding to once again reclaim his title as the stupid jock. "Ow! Would you stop hitting me?"

"Only when you decide to stop acting like an idiot," Kira said.

The group continued to walk through the dense forest, trying to keep up with their teacher who was constantly running ahead and having to stop and wait for them to catch up. Conner grabbed Kira's arm and held her back until Ethan and Tommy were far enough ahead so they wouldn't hear their conversation, but they could still see them.  
>"So, seriously, why are you into Mr. Smoothie guy anyways?" Conner asked as he shoved his hands into his pockets.<p>

"One, his name isn't Mr. Smoothie guy. It's Trent. And two, I'm not into him. He's just cute, that's all."

"Nobody stares at someone like that if they just think they're 'cute'," Conner argued.  
>Kira sighed. "Why are you bringing this up again?"<p>

"Because I want to know what that guy has that has you hung all up on him."  
>"I haven't said a word about him since Cyberspace."<p>

"But you've been thinking about him."  
>"How would you know?"<br>"Because I just know!"  
>"Well, for your information, I haven't. In fact, I've been thinking about someone else."<br>"Oh, really, who?" Conner stopped and waited for her to answer him.

"I'll tell you later. If we don't keep walking, we're going to lose sight of Dr. O and Ethan." Kira tried to move but Conner's hand grabbed her arm tightly.

"No, tell me now."  
>"I don't have to answer to you." She wiggled her arm out of his grasp and stalked off, trying to catch up with the rest of the group.<br>"Kira, wait!" Conner ran after her, using his super speed as an advantage.  
>"Why do you care so much?" she asked, tired of his sudden change in attitude. If she didn't know any better, she would say Conner was trying to act caring and protective of her. In fact, there were a couple of moments where she noticed him looking at her or acting slightly different around her...<p>

He hadn't been expecting that question and stared at her with his mouth wide open. "Well, I, because I—"

"Conner, Kira! Get over here now!" Dr. O yelled, panic in his voice. Without a second thought, Conner picked the yellow ranger up bridal style and zoomed over to the place where Tommy's voice came from.

"What is it?" Conner asked, not yet letting go of Kira even though she was fighting to break free of the boy's strong hold. She had to admit, it felt nice to be held by such strong arms. _Kira, snapped out of it!_ She quietly scolded herself. This was Conner for crying out loud!

"Tyrannodrones," he said as he pointed to a small clearing. "And Elsa. She found the gems and there are two people in there. Ethan's already in. Go! I'll follow you." The two rangers nodded and Tommy ran after them into the clearing.

"Thanks for showing up!" the blue ranger said as he ducked a blow from one of the minions. "Sorry we had to ruin your make-out session."  
>"We. Weren't. Making. Out." Kira said, punching a Tyrannodrone with each word.<p>

"Yeah," Conner agreed. "We. Were. Just. Talking." Like Kira, he punched as he said each word.

"Right," Ethan said, not believing his teammates.  
>"Where are the people you are talking about Dr. O?" Kira asked.<br>"I think they're in the center. At least, that's where the most of the Tyrannodrones are," he answered as he continued to punch and kick any attacker. Man, did it feel good to be fighting with a living thing and not some punching bag!  
>"Okay, let's ditch these distractions and make our way towards the center of that circle." Conner punched his offending minion and then ran towards the outer ring of the mass group, furiously trying to make his way into it. "Whoever these people are, they are our number one priority. The gems, second. Got it?"<p>

"Yeah," Kira said as she joined the fight. The group had only just started their battle with the large circle when Ethan noticed some of the Tyrannodrones were starting to run away.

"Uh, guys, we may have a problem," Ethan said.

"What is it, Ethan?" Tommy asked.

"I know that I'm the comic book geek and all, but, Dr. O, you've been at this the longest, right?"

Tommy ducked as a leg aimed at his head and quickly swept the attached legs out from under it. "Uh, yeah, why do you ask?"  
>"Well, in your many years as a you-know-what, was there ever a time when the little minions would run away?" Ethan threw his fist into a gut and grimaced when he saw it was Conner.<p>

"Dude!" Conner whimpered, doubled over.  
>"Sorry!"<p>

"I have," Tommy said as he continued to fight his way into the circle, "but only if the force was too powerful for them so they decided to retreat or if the creatures decided to create a larger combined one. Why do you ask?" Tommy took a quick second to look around his surroundings and saw what Ethan was getting at. "Oh."

"Um, what do we do?" Conner asked from his position which was close to the ground. Now, all of the Tyrannodrones were fleeing from the scene empty-handed and Elsa nor Zeltrax was nowhere in sight.

"Brace yourselves and prepare to morph," he said cryptically. "There are only a few people I can think of who can make an entire army run away like that. One of them is me."

"Conceited much?" Kira mocked.

"Not when I'm speaking the truth," he shot back. "Seriously, once this cloud clears, be ready for anything. Morphers?"  
>"Check!" came three voices.<p>

"Good. Conner, when the last one leaves, start the morph."

"Got it, Dr. O," the red ranger said, not daring to call him 'dude' on purpose. A few moments later, the last two Tyrannodrones ran away and Conner called out, "Ready?"  
>"Ready!"<p>

"Dino Thunder, Power—"

"STOP!" Tommy screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Dr. O?" Ethan stared at his teacher who was blocking all three of their views.

"These guys, they aren't enemies." He turned around to face his students with an expression that was a mix of happiness and guilt. "They're friends. Conner, Ethan, and Kira, I want you to meet Jason and Kimberly, the original Red and Pink Power Rangers."

* * *

><p>Dun, dun, dunnnn! Hey guys! Sorry this is so late. As you can see, I posted two chapters to make up for last week, this week, and next week! I can totally explain: Finals. Review packets. Homework. Projects. That sums up why I haven't been able to write much or update this story in two weeks. Luckily, I have finals next week which means I will have plenty of time to write for you guys over winter break and maybe update on a non-Tuesday! Wouldn't that be fantastic? I think it would be:) (The reason why this is also an update for next week is because I'm going to be in Philly this weekend and won't have a chance to write between traveling and studying for finals.) Anyways, what'd ya think of the two chapters? Pretty awesome, right? Of course they are because there is some Conner and Kira goodness as well as a mix of Jason and Kimberly coming back to join Dr. O in his fight of training teenagers to save the world. Wicked, I know. COMMENTS TIME!<p>

andyg2525-I'm glad you're feeling better. I don't want to really give anything away, but I can say that Trent is going to be the White Ranger when I get to that point in the timeline:)

FrostyTheBookLover-Thanks!

fallingstar22-Thank you:) Yeah, Conner definitely has to be careful what he says. He will never known when Kira might be around...;)

YellowPrincess-Thanks and I do, too. Isn't that why everyone loves him?:)

Well, that's it for the comments and for these two chapters. I promise, once finals is done with, I'm going to be writing like crazy for you guys. Maybe if I write so much, I'll have time to post a chapter not a Tuesday... We'll have to see.

Please leave a review by clicking that pretty blue link that is below. It really makes my day when I see an email notifying me that someone left a review. Or if that's not your thing, subscribe to the story or to me and that makes me smile just as much:)

Until next chapter,  
>Writingaddict169<p> 


	17. So Close and Yet So Far

Chapter 16: So Close and Yet So Far

"Two of the original Power Rangers? Dr. O, you've gotta be trippin'," Ethan said. But he wasn't. Standing behind their teacher were two adults, a male and female, both brunettes and both had brown eyes. The man, Jason they had guessed, was dressed in a red t-shirt, jeans, and a red baseball cap that read "Power Marital Arts Studio". The woman, Kimberly by deduction, was wearing a pink shirt that read "Hart's Gymnastics" and jeans. In both of their hands, they each held onto a rock as if it was their life preserver.

"I'm not 'tripping', Ethan. I would know these guys anywhere!" Dr. O walked over to the duo and just took a good look at both of them. He wanted nothing more than to be able to do the secret handshake, half-hug thing him and Jason had made up when Tommy first joined the Rangers. He wanted to be able to go to Kimberly, pick her up like he had so many years ago when she accepted his invitation to the dance, and kiss her. But where did he stand with her? Where did he stand with Jase? There had to be a reason why he never called either of them, or anyone else from any of the other teams for that matter, he just wasn't quite sure what it was.

Luckily for him, he didn't have to do anything. Jason gave his rock to Kimberly and walked up to Tommy. He set up for the fist bump and waited for Tommy to join him. With a smile on his face, Tommy did the same, and they went through the practiced moves with ease, as if they had never stopped doing it eight years ago. At the end, Jason went into the "man hug", as Kimberly had dubbed it when she had first seen the secret handshake, and whispered into Tommy's ear, "You fucking little bastard." Tommy reeled away, appalled that the first thing out of his best friend's mouth would be those things. Then again, he did kind of deserve it. Jason turned to the stunned teenagers and said out loud, "Did you guys know that your leader here is nothing short of a bastard? 'Cause he is!" At the dazed look of the students, he continued, "But I love him anyways. Come here, Tommy!" With much more grace and a full helping of not caring who was around, the former red ranger pulled his best friend into a full on hug, wondering exactly how long it had been since he had last seen the original Green Ranger. Jason no longer wanted to hurt his friend, like he originally thought, instead, he just wanted to catch up on years passed and relive old memories.

When the two best friends separated, Tommy locked eyes with Kimberly and started to make his way over. When they were a foot apart, he stopped and looked into her eyes, hoping to see what she was thinking. He could always read her like an open book. "Kimberly?" he said cautiously. For the first time in his life, Tommy Oliver could not read Kimberly Hart's face.

"Tommy." He mentally winced at the iciness of her voice and wondered what exactly was she going to do. _Slap!_ The sound of flesh hitting flesh filled the stillness of the forest and Tommy could feel a light fire of pain on his left cheek. It wasn't the hardest of hits he had taken, but something about an ex-girlfriend hitting a man's face was worse. Before he had time to rub the stinging spot, arms wrapped around him and a familiar voice filled his ear. "Don't you ever do something like this again. Do you hear me?"  
>"Loud and clear, Beautiful."<p>

* * *

><p>Jason and Kimberly walked through the doors of Tommy's house, teenagers hot on their tails.<p>

"That forest always gives me the creeps," the African-American boy said.

"Yeah, especially with all of the sink holes and crazy dinosaur-human hybrids that hang around in there on school days," the boy dressed all in red said.

"I'm telling you, crazy things happen in that forest, we're proof of it!"

"Like what?" Kimberly asked.

"Uh, nothing, we just found some weird old junk when we were out there with Dr. O, that's all," he said, trying to cover up his mistakes.

"Ethan, they can be trusted." Tommy leaned over the counter that separated the living room from the kitchen and asked if anyone wanted anything to eat or drink. When nobody took him up on his offer, he said, "They were Power Rangers, too. Jason Scott, original Red Ranger, and Kimberly Hart, original Pink Ranger, I'd like you to meet the newest incarnation of the Power Rangers, Conner McKnight, Red Ranger, Kira Ford, Yellow Ranger, and Ethan James, Blue Ranger."

"And which one are you?" Jason asked. "Pink?"  
>"Ha ha, you're hilarious," Tommy said dryly. "Actually, Black, thank you very much."<p>

"Do you have awesome dance skills like Zack now?"

"Are you kidding me? He probably still has two left feet," Kimberly joked, earning a laugh from the adults and leaving three teenagers extremely confused.

"Hey, being a teacher to high school students doesn't leave much time for dance class, okay?" Tommy grabbed a bottle of water for himself and walked to join the rest of the group in the living room. "There are some stuff I'm getting too old for and one of them just happens to be dancing."  
>"Tommy, as your best friend, I have to say, you were never good at dancing nor will you ever be good at dancing," Jason laughed. He turned to the newest rangers and said, "If you ever want anything from Tommy, just remind him of our high school dance back in '93."<br>"It won't work; they don't even know the story."  
>"They will soon enough," Jason warned.<p>

* * *

><p>Conner looked over at Kira with a strange expression on his face. "What? Is there something on my face?"<p>

"No, no, I-guys can I talk to you outside real fast?" Conner asked, needing a moment to escape Memory Lane.

"Sure." The trio walked out of the house and sat on the porch steps, waiting for the leader to say something.

"Don't you guys kind of find it a little weird?" Conner asked, looking at his friends.

"What?" Kira asked. "Three friends who haven't seen each other in a very long time chatting it up? No, not really."

"Think about it," Conner said, trying to not sound paranoid. "Two of the most influential people of Dr. O's life suddenly show up from nowhere. Not to mention, two very famous people! I don't know if you know this or not, but Jason Scott is a world-renown martial arts champion and Kimberly Hart is a three-time Olympic gold medalist. The fact that these two people know a high school teacher is a little weird."  
>"They were Power Rangers, Conner!" Ethan cried. "You saw the video. Every single name Tommy said is someone extremely famous, and what do they have in common?" Kira raised her hand and started to wave it frantically in the air. "Yes, Miss Ford?"<br>"They were all Power Rangers!" she said excitedly like a little kid would when finally called on.

"If you guys are trying to make me feel better about myself, you mocking me isn't helping." Conner sat down in between the two and sighed. "I'm serious about this."  
>Kira wrapped her arm around his shoulders and started to pull away when his shoulders tensed up. Quickly, they relaxed and she left her arm there. "Conner, just because Dr. O told us to keep an eye out for anything suspicious doesn't mean you have to be so paranoid and freak out whenever you see a black squirrel instead of a brown one. Just because there are rare sights, doesn't mean that they need to be reported to Dr. O."<br>"I'm not paranoid," he muttered

"Sure you're not," Ethan said, not believing a word of it. He glanced at Kira's arm around Conner's shoulders before standing up to give the two a little privacy that they may not have known they needed. "I'm going to go inside and catch some more dirt on Dr. O. You never know when we might need blackmail."

The door swung open and quickly shut when the blue boy went inside. "Okay, now tell me, what's really bothering you?" Kira asked, getting straight to the point.

"Exactly that," Conner muttered again. "I just think it's weird, that's all."

"Conner, people can meet other people in extremely weird ways. Seeing old friends is the same case."  
>"I know! Quit treating me like a baby!" Conner yelled, standing up from his spot on the porch and jumping off the steps.<br>"I'm not treating you like a baby, Conner," Kira yelled back. "I'm trying to figure out what's making you upset because something is clearly wrong even if you don't believe it."  
>Seeing that it was a loosing battle, he sat back down on the steps next to his yellow counterpart and held his head in his hands. "I'm the Red Ranger, Kira," he whispered.<p>

"Yeah, and I'm the Yellow Ranger," she said back. "What about it?"  
>"Every single past Red Ranger has become something great. They led their team into dangerous fights, fights where they didn't even think they could come out alive. But they did, somehow, because of the Red Ranger."<br>"Conner—"

"No, hear me out. After they won their grand battle against their main enemy, they became world famous or did something great like Dr. O and Jason. What am I going to do? What am I going to be? What if, at the end of all this, when we finally face Mesogog because we all know we're going to, what if we don't win? What if one of us dies? What if one of us doesn't get the chance to live up to everyone's expectations?"

"Conner—"

"Dr. O is quite possibly the greatest Power Ranger to ever live. What if I can't live up to his expectations that he has for me? He is the most colorful Power Ranger to ever live and one of the best. You can't believe he doesn't expect me to thrive under all of this. What if I can't do it? What if I'm that one ranger who leads his entire team into battle and loses? What happens if I fail? I become the greatest failure who was trained by the greatest success. How do I live with that?"  
>For the first time, Kira looked at the star soccer player through different eyes. No longer did she see a confident, cocky athlete, but a scared, frightened young man who was uncertain about a job that had suddenly been thrust upon him. She always thought that his confidence was the real thing but suddenly it became a mask, a mask that hid his insecurities. A mask that was no longer hiding his emotions from Kira. She wanted to know when he started to feel this comfortable around her, what made him change his mind from thinking of her as a rebel-wannabe to someone he could count on.<br>"Conner, you're not going to fail—"

"How do you know?" She visibly winced at the harshness of his voice. He looked so sad with his head hanging down like a kicked puppy, Kira couldn't help but wish she could do something.

"Because I just do." She stood up and hopped off the porch so she could squat down in front of Conner. "None of us asked for this job, none of us know how to do it. We're doing the best we can, and hey, we're only a couple of weeks into it. Tommy doesn't expect us to be perfect, that's why he's going to train us. And now with two other former rangers here, we're going to kick some ass and we're going to win. Because that's what we do."

"How are you this optimistic?" he asked, raising his head so he was looking into her eyes.

"Because I have a great leader," she whispered, wondering when he became closer to her. "And because I trust in all of us. You have to when you're fighting for your life daily." Kira could have sworn that his face was leaning into hers and her heart was starting to beat a little faster. _No, this is Conner,_ she scolded herself. _You don't like him. He's an arrogant, cocky, sexist soccer player who just wants to make out with any girl who is willing. He likes girls who wear tons of makeup and short skirts and tight tops. I'm not one of them. I'm nothing like them and even if I was, I wouldn't like him. _Unwillingly Kira started to lean in closer to Conner and internally smacked herself. _What are you doing? This is Conner McKnight, you hate this guy. Don't lean into him, you don't like him. He flirts with every girl!_

_But he flirts with me, too,_ she argued. _And lately he's been really sweet. Like, like he almost __cares__ about me. And that "McKnight" grin of his is really cute._

_That's what he wants you to think! He wants you to fall for him so he can get what he wants and leave!_

_No, no, Conner isn't like that. _

_You better believe it, sister. _

Kira squashed the little voice in her head into a flat bug and focused on his face. Brown hair fell just above his brown eyes that pulled her into a hole that she couldn't climb out of, even if she wanted to. His skin looked soft and smooth and suddenly she had the urge to touch it but restrained herself. Her heart started to beat a little bit faster, and she closed her eyes in anticipation. She leaned in closer, wanting nothing more than to feel his lips against hers.

"Hey, guys! Jason and Kimberly are telling some wicked awesome stories about when they were Power Rangers. Come on, you—" the blue ranger stopped when he saw the position of his fellow red and yellow rangers. "Oh, well, I'll, um, just leave you alone..."

The door swung shut behind Ethan and Kira and Conner looked at each other, disappointment in both of their eyes. There was no way whatever would have happened was going to happen again, and they both knew it.

Conner stood up and glared at the door. "Well, um, I guess we should go back inside."

"Yeah."

"I guess I'll see you inside, then."

"Yeah."

The door swung shut for the second time and Kira was left sitting out on Tommy's porch.

* * *

><p>Hey guys! This is this week's REAL chapter where hopefully everything is up-to-date and makes a ton more sense now. I hope everyone's holiday was fantastic and everyone got what they wanted. For Christmas, my favorite gift was a golden age Batman action figure. (I am a huge Batman fan for those who don't know:) ) What was your favorite gift from this holiday season? COMMENTS TIME!<p>

BellaVision-Thanks!

fallingstar22-Thank you. I would have to say that they are getting closer, but aren't quite there yet;)

YellowPrincess-Thank you and hopefully what happened with Kimberly was satisfactory:)

oldtvlover-Thanks!

andyg2525-You're welcome. I'm sorry to hear about your knee:( My mom had back surgery a couple of years ago and it was no fun. Of course I will keep writing so you don't get bored. So long as you don't mind waiting for them to get updated. Might I recommend reading a chapter from this story called "Connecting and Reconnecting"? It was supposed to be after "The Great Kylee Debate" but for some reason I didn't upload it when I should have. I must have skipped it or something. Oh well, now you have the chance to read it! Feel better!

-Welcome to the fan bus and thanks for reading! I'm glad this chapter answered your question. Let me know what you thought:)

Well, that's it for now. Leave a review and let me know what you think of this chapter. Comments, questions, suggestions, and concerns are welcomed:) If I don't upload a new chapter before New Year's, have a Happy New Year and I'll see you in 2012!

Until next chapter,  
>Writingaddict169<p> 


	18. New Additons

Chapter 17: New Additions

Conner entered the living room and saw Ethan bent over in a side-splitting laugh. Jason and Kimberly were close to tears while Dr. O's face was as red as Conner's ranger suit. "What did I miss?"

"Nothing," his teacher muttered darkly. It was bad enough that one of his students had heard what had happened back when he was a teenager.

"Oh, man, Conner, Dr. O was the craziest guy ever when he was our age," Ethan choked out while he continued to laugh. "Like the one time when he and Jason went fishing—"  
>"Continue what you started and you will be cleaning the zords for a month," the black ranger warned.<p>

"Shutting up."

"Do you guys wanna hear about the time when Tommy got arrested for trying to steal a stoplight?" Jason asked with wicked grin.

"Dr. O? A stoplight? What's so special about a stoplight?" Conner asked. Somehow he knew this was going to be a great story.

"I wasn't trying to steal it! It fell into the bed of my truck!" he protested. "I swear!"  
>"Hey, before we continue to mock Tommy, Conner, where's Kira?" Kimberly asked.<p>

"Oh, she's outside." The teen's eyes fell to the floor and the former Pink Ranger could tell something happened.

"I'll be right back." While Jason wove crazy stories about the youth of Tommy, Kimberly stepped outside and saw the only other girl in the group sitting on the wooden steps. Carefully sitting down next to her, Kimberly folded her arms and waited for the girl to speak. She knew Kira knew she was there, but Kimberly decided it would be better for the younger one to talk before her.

"Why are guys assholes?" the yellow ranger asked bitterly.

"If anyone knew that answer, they'd be given a Nobel peace prize or something." Kimberly let out a light laugh, hoping it would bring a small smile to the girl's face. Nothing. "What happened between you and Conner?"  
>"I don't know what you're talking about."<p>

"Okay, then tell me why you're out here while he's in there? Kira, I know something happened between you two and I want to know what."

"Nothing happened, okay?" She stood up from her place on the steps and paced in front of the adult just like _he_ had done only a few minutes ago. "That's exactly what happened. Nothing! And the best part is, it's all Ethan's fault. If he hadn't come out when he did, something would have happened. And then maybe I wouldn't be so pissed off at both of them. I mean, Ethan eggs us on about being an old married couple but we can't be that if he interrupts us every time we try to kiss!"  
>"So, you guys have tried to kiss before but it's never happened?"<p>

Kira sighed as if she had already explained the situation a thousand times but Kimberly still wasn't getting it. "No, we haven't. I don't even know why I want him to kiss me. I don't like him or anything!"  
>"Why?" Kimberly was going to get to the bottom of this if it was the last thing she was going to do. She could recall several accounts when something like this happened with her friends and knew exactly what to do to get the truth out.<p>

"His ego is bigger than the state of Texas, he flirts shamelessly, wants to hop into bed with anything wearing a skirt, loves girls who wear a ton of makeup, he's nothing but a stupid jock, and only cares about himself! But there was that one time when he saved that little boy in the park and he just puts on that front of being stupid to hold his 'reputation' which is absolutely ridiculous. Then there's his amazing hair that falls just the right way and his amazing body that shows through all the tight shirts he wears. And there have been some moments where he flirts with me, if you call arguing flirting that is, but he does have his extremely sweet moments and times where I catch him staring at me from the corner of my eye and he tries to play it off like he was never doing that in the first place. But that's beside the point!" The yellow ranger glared at the older woman who had been smirking during her entire rant. "What?"

"You do realize that you spilled your guts to me on how much you like Conner, right?"

"What? No I didn't!" Kira protested. "I don't like Conner therefore making it impossible for me to 'spill my guts' on how much I like him."  
>"You know, I used to do the same exact thing when I was your age," Kimberly said as she brushed dust off from her pants when she stood up. "And then I met Tommy and realized I needed to stop playing games. I flirted with him, got reciprocal vibes from him, and pretty soon, we started dating. Kira, don't lie to yourself. You have feelings for Conner and if you guys almost kissed, he obviously feels the same about you. Take your time and explore your feelings. There's no need to rush into things. Wait a little bit and see what happens when <em>you<em> start flirting with _him_. If he flirts right back, then take the next step with him. Trust me, when you see a guy you like, you take a chance and let yourself fall in love with him. And when you find that guy you really love, you don't let him go no matter what happens. That was my mistake. Now come on, the boys are missing you and you're missing out on the crazy stories about your science teacher's youth that are pure blackmailing gold."

When the girls came back into the house, Tommy decided that two teenagers had heard enough of his past and they should get down to business. "Alright, Jase, save some stories for another time. Now that everyone is here, I want to know what happened in the woods before we got there."  
>"What are you talking about?" Jason asked, not fazed by the switch in topics or the sudden seriousness in his friend's voice.<p>

"I'm talking about the gems. Before Elsa attacked you guys and the rocks you guys were holding when we found you. And yes, Elsa was that creepy woman dressed all in black with the fake-looking cornrows," Tommy said before Jason could open his mouth.

"When we were done eating our lunch, we went to continue our hike when Jase tripped over a rock," Kimberly said. "He held it up and claimed that it was burning hot, but when I felt it, it was freezing cold. I told him that back in freshmen biology we learned that nonliving things such as rocks could not produce their own heat. I took a quick glance at the ground and found a similar looking rock and picked it up. It became hot like Jason's, but he didn't feel the heat like I did; he thought I was mocking him."  
>"And then that's when creepy lady and her freaks jumped out from behind the trees and started to attack us. We leaped into Ranger mode, thinking they were important if she wanted them so badly," finished Jason.<p>

"Well, you're right, they are extremely important and I couldn't imagine anyone else fitted for the job than you two," Dr. O said with a smile.

"Job? Tommy, what are you talking about?" Kimberly asked.  
>"Those aren't just any rocks; they are two of the three Dino Gems that I've been hunting for a long time. In fact, I called these guys to pick them up before I lost their energy readings." He pointed to Conner, Kira, and Ethan as he spoke. "That heat you guys felt, that means they bonded with you. You guys are quite possibly the only people on the face of the earth whom the gems will bond with."<br>"What does that mean?" the former red ranger asked, not quite understanding where this conversation was going.

"It means, like these guys, you are part of the new team of Power Rangers. Welcome to the team, Jason and Kimberly." The two former rangers turned to look at each other, shock covering their faces. It had been almost eleven years since they last donned their spandex uniforms to fight crime. Tommy was crazy if he thought they were still in any shape to fight. "Look, I know it's been a while since you guys last saved the world from evil, but if I can do it, so can you guys."  
>"But you're Tommy Oliver," Jason argued. "You're known as 'the greatest ranger who ever lived' and don't bother arguing with me, saying it's not true because you know damn well everyone thinks it and you partially believe it yourself." He stopped and let out a sigh. "What I'm trying to say is that if we can't expect ourselves to jump right back into whatever we left off, you can't expect us to either. We're old, man, that's why every time new threat shows up, a new team is formed. There's a reason why. But then again, you were the exception, staying on for what, three, four teams? This is your life, Tommy, not ours."<br>"You can't expect me to believe that every time you hear about a new Ranger victory you wish it were you defeating evil," Tommy said. "You and Kimberly left because you had everything in front of you. I had nothing. That's why I stayed the longest. As for you two being out of shape, that's bullshit. You have your own martial arts company and Kim has her gymnastics group. You guys have stayed in shape since your Ranger days and we all know it." He looked over at his first love, eyes wide and a pleading look on his face. "I know you wished you could have stayed, both of you, but you couldn't. I'm giving you the chance that every retired Ranger wants, including yourselves. If anyone can take up another mantle, it's you two. Besides, there's no one else I would want to fight side-by-side again but you guys."

Giving in to the charm that only he could posses, the former pink ranger nodded. "Fine, I'll do it. On one condition."  
>"What?"<br>"I help train the new recruits."  
>"Done."<br>"And you take Jason and I out to dinner to catch up on the past x-number of years of our lives."

Hesitating, he finally nodded. "Fine." Turning to his best friend with an expectant look on his face, he waited.

"I guess I don't have much of a choice, huh? My sister and my best friend are Power Rangers again, and since I hate being left out, I guess I have to say yes."  
>"You bet." Dr. Oliver turned to his students with a big smile on his face and said, " Conner, Kira, and Ethan, I would like you to meet your new teammates, Jason, the Gold Ranger, and Kimberly, the Pink Ranger."<p>

"Great. Now what can they do and what are their zords?" Ethan asked.

"Kimberly will be in control of the Parasaurzord and Jason is in charge of the Dimetrozord, matching colors of course. As for powers, we'll have to wait and see. Their gems are in the rawest form, unlike yours where they were already turned into gems. That's why your powers became prominent minutes after you picked them up. I'll have Haley take your gems and turn them into morphers for you. You should have them back within a day or two."  
>"Haley? Is she your new girl toy?" Jason asked with a smirk on his face. Kimberly's was suddenly dark.<p>

"Okay, one, she is not my girl toy," Tommy argued. "And two, she's the tech wiz on the team. Do you honestly believe that I could create all these zords on my own? I wouldn't even know where to start building one!"  
>"With the way your zords kept breaking down, I was certain you'd be a zord expert by now," the new gold ranger joked.<p>

"It was never my fault!" Tommy protested. "I swear it was because those zords were ancient!"  
>"And only yours ever broke down." Jason smiled as his friend punched him in the arm.<p>

"I still don't understand why Zordon never let Alpha or Billy help me out. They were good at that sort of thing."  
>"And then you became a pro racecar driver and knew practically everything about machines."<br>"Wait, Dr. O, you were a racer? For NASCAR?" Ethan shouted.

"Not for NASCAR. Just a local racing team, that's it." Tommy shot a threatening stare at his friend. "Time for you to shut up and give me your gem."

"Fine. But you're no fun, you know that?"

* * *

><p>Hey guys! Sorry this is a tad late. I was enjoying my last day of Winter Break by cleaning the entire house. Joy. Anyways, so, here is the new chapter! What did you think? Leave a review:) So, quick question. Do you guys like having each episode kind of broken into two parts or would you rather have a longer chapter involving an entire episode? Let me know in a review! COMMENTS TIME!<p>

oldtvlover-Thanks!

BellaVision-I know this isn't how you originally wanted it, but after thinking about it, I realized that having two Pteras and two T-rexs, it wouldn't really work out on the Megazord. I hope you don't mind the change!

fallingstar22-Thank you and I hope this was fast enough for you.

YellowPrincess-I know, and I enjoy making you guys wait longer for them to kiss;)

Well, that's it for now. Sorry this AN was so short. Anyways, I hope everyone's New Year was great and here's to 2012! Thanks for reading and make sure to leave a review to let me know what you think. Also, thank you to all of the subscribers! I love getting email telling me that someone read my story and liked it enough to get an email alert!

Until next chapter,  
>Writingaddict169<p> 


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